


Changing Destiny

by OrangeSorbetto



Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drinking, M/M, Near Future, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Underage Drinking, ina11bigbang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27125443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrangeSorbetto/pseuds/OrangeSorbetto
Summary: Protocol Omega and the former Second Stage Children have all grown and are getting ready to live their lives. Gamma has to choose a path for his future, and he finds himself having a hard time doing so, especially now that Zanark Avalonic has come back into his life out of nowhere. What starts as a strange Protocol Omega mission, is now a mess of emotions, and Gamma needs to figure out what's going on, and what to do about it.
Relationships: Alpha/Einamu, Saryuu Evan/Fei Rune, Zanark Avalonic/Gamma
Comments: 11
Kudos: 11





	1. The Mission

**Author's Note:**

> This is my project for the inazuma eleven Big Bang! I worked with two great talented artist which I will link here once the pieces are both done! Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!

Work, school, soccer, work, school, soccer, work.

It was the same formula for all of Protocol Omega. They spent all their time in whatever El Dorado scheduled them in with rarely any free time. They were elite temporal agents before they were students or soccer players, so most of their hours consisted of working.

However, because of the Ragnarok battle, soccer became a desired sport again. More people took interest into it as a game, and not just a thing of the past. El Dorado decided to take advantage of that and they created a new soccer tournament, with youth and adult leagues, and it became a healthy distraction for the public. So their best time agents were soccer players now, on their very own Protocol Omega team. 

However, they were also finishing up their high school education and becoming adults. Now as most of their members were either eighteen-years-old or approaching eighteen, they thought about a higher education.

“What’s the point of going to University, if El Dorado makes us study everything anyways?” Beta asked as she changed her clothes in the locker room in front of Alpha and Gamma. They had been talking about going to college as they changed out of their athletic clothes. The three had known each other since they were young, and they had had a more sibling-like relationship. With that they also had a sibling rivalry among the three of them, at any given time.

Gamma shrugged. “It could be good to get out of their grasp.” He suggested. Their education from the government was comprehensive, but it was very centered around work. Even the extra-curricular activities they were implored to take were placed on the back burner to their studies that pertained to time travel.

“And study whatever we want.” Alpha carried on the sentiment. He had become more vocal with age, and a little bit more extroverted. If anything, he smiled more. “I wouldn’t mind studying more science and chemistry beyond what El Dorado had given us in course work.”

“I think I want to study dance again.” Gamma had thought about it, and he had loved the sport when El Dorado made them all take that extra-curricular as an exercise on body balance. He was particularly good at it.

Beta thought a moment and nodded. “I wouldn’t mind studying more art.” She finally agreed with the boys. “Regardless, we will probably be temporal agents forever. We kinda went in knowing that was the case.”

As they stood in the locker room, thinking about what their future could be if they went to university, and what probably wouldn’t be, they were interrupted by the call from the Chairman on their communicators.

“Come to the meeting room at once.” He had said over their devices, reminding them that they were agents first.

“Yes, Master.” They all complied at once.

\--

At the meeting room, the three leaders of Protocol Omega stood at attention obediently, as they always had. Awaiting instruction for their upcoming mission, they assumed.

And they were right. The Chairman sat at his desk and placed a file in front of them. “We have reason to believe that there have been threats to the government of El Dorado.” Toudou explained as he opened the file to reveal a familiar face in the pages. 

Zanark Avalonic.

“Zanark has been creating a stir in the air and there are rumors of a cyber attack on our building or protests against us. According to him, and his band of misfits, they believe that former Second Stage Children aren’t granted the same rights as regular humans and they are upset that we aren’t doing enough, when we have already explained why we have done all we can to integrate them into society.”

Zanark had been a mystery. He showed up out of nowhere, and he disappeared out of nowhere. For a while, he was on a soccer team with other former Second Stage Children, Saru, Fei, Meia and Giris, but then out of nowhere he quit. Or at least, that’s what it seemed.

“The SSC might not have the same power that they had once had, but they still have strength in numbers, and we need to know how many and what level of power they truly do have.” The Chairman continued on.

“Are we to infiltrate their meetings?” Beta spoke up, in a somewhat cutesy voice as she always had. She was never her true self around the old men. 

Toudou nodded. “That’s what we are intending.” He gave a quick nod and looked back at his papers. “Zanark Avalonic had asked El Dorado for a sum of money to get his family’s theater up and running.” He explained.

“Theater?” Gamma asked. “What kind of theater?”

“A performing arts theater. Supposedly, it had belonged to his family for generations.” Toudou explained. “It was destroyed in the war against the SSC and he wanted to get it up and running again in their honor. After we secured the money for him, and the theater was re-built, he kept quiet. But now we have reason to believe he is behind a rogue group trying to breach our secure files. So we will be doing a reconnaissance mission on the former Second Stage Children.”

The three leaders looked at each other and then back at the chairman as he began to speak again.

“This coming week, there is an underground speakeasy. I want you to go, Gamma.”

A moment of surprise flooded on Gamma’s face, before a smug smile. He loved when he was chosen for the work over his peers. “Mm, smart.” He said immodestly and gave a glance to Beta who had a look of disappointment on her face.

“It makes sense you’d choose him, Master.” Beta changed her tune with a smile to her superior. “He is the only one of us to break the rules and go to parties instead of doing his work.” 

Gamma sneered at her and was about to say something before he was interrupted.

“I chose Gamma because you two can use your skills here, and watch from afar.” Toudou explained. “It will be helpful to have another set of eyes able to see the surroundings and anything suspicious. I trust I can leave it to you three?”

“Yes, Master.” They agreed simultaneously.

Once they were dismissed, they all began walking to their rooms together. 

“Congratulations, Gamma.” Beta had a mischievous grin as she spoke. “You’re not the last in line for once.”

Gamma raised an eyebrow at her, keeping his smug smile. “Jealousy is not a good look for you, Beta.”

“No.” Alpha interjected himself in between them, as he was used to doing. “We have a job to do. Arguing won’t solve anything.”

As they were older, they knew that what Alpha spoke was true. They still bickered, but they understood that they were stronger as a team. And all that really meant was Gamma and Beta were more underhanded in trying to get up in ranks on each other. Alpha just had to endure it all.

The three walked to their rooms and finished their studies. They had class tomorrow before soccer practice.

\--

When the day of the reconnaissance mission came, Gamma was fully prepared. He dressed like a street kid ready for a party, and he had a small earpiece that was disguised as an earring so he could contact Alpha and Beta at the base. Not only that, but he already knew where the “speakeasy”, as they called them, was. He had already been to a few on his time off--and when he was supposed to be working, Beta had been right about that.

However, when he got to the party, there was something different about it. It was just as loud and rowdy as it had been before, but the air was a little different. 

The bouncer at the door looked Gamma up and down and shook her head. “I can’t allow El Dorado inside.” She said simply.

Gamma looked at her incredulously. “What? I’m not El Dorado, I’m Protocol Omega.” He explained. This was a very important distinction as the leaders of the organization have grown up. “I was here a month ago, why wouldn’t you let me in now?” 

She shook her head, her masked face remained covered as she did so. “I’m sorry, as far as I’m concerned, you’re El Dorado.”

“Hey, don’t worry Yasha, he’s with me.”

With a quick turn of his whole body, Gamma recognized the voice of the man who had once used him and his team to get ahead of El Dorado. Zanark Avalonic stood, dressed just as casually and yet somehow still loudly so everyone knew who he was. 

“Zanark.” Gamma said his name with a bit of poison in his voice.

Zanark grinned at him regardless. “Long time no see, Gamma.”

“He’s with you?” Yasha, the bouncer, and former Zanark Domain member had asked. Gamma hadn’t noticed it was her at first, until her name was said. She smiled behind the mask and crossed her arms.

Zanark shrugged at her. “Yeah, why not? What’s El Dorado gonna do, crash our party? Shut it down? They won’t.” He doubted. “What’s brought you here?” He asked, turning back to look at his now guest to the event.

Well, as the truth was El Dorado was literally crashing the party, but Gamma was very good at lying. He gave a nonchalant shrug. “Sometimes I go to these things for fun. I’ve never been turned away at the door before.”

“Yasha’s not usually the bouncer.” Zanark placed a hand on her shoulder with a bit of a pat. She looked smugly happy about it. “She’s merciless. The best around.”

“And I don’t trust El Dorado.” She said simply.

“Come now, you heard the guy, he’s Protocol Omega, not El Dorado.” Zanark advocated for his case and beckoned Gamma to follow him.

Going through his head, were millions of reasons why Gamma did not want to follow him. The biggest reason was that he was petty and still angry at Zanark for taking over his team those years ago before Ragnarok, but he knew he had a job to do. So against his ego, he followed Zanark into the club.

Zanark walked them through an underground hall, one Gamma had been through a couple of times. It looked, sounded, and seemed the same. Perhaps he was just thrown off by Zanark’s friend’s demeanor.

Zanark decided he would start the small talk as they walked side by side. “So, how have you been?”

“I’m not here to become friends with you. I’m here to unwind and make friends with actually interesting people.”

“Gamma--do your job!” The voice over the intercom in his ear was Beta’s. She was ready to critique his attitude all she needed.

“Come on,” Zanark’s voice trailed off a bit into a snicker. “I just helped you into the club, you could at least say thank you.”

“If you got to know him maybe he’d let something slip” Alpha said over the intercom this time.

Gamma gave a sigh, partially at his teammates but also at the man next to him. He rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He muttered. “Thanks for getting me in, I guess.”

“You’re welcome.” Zanark laughed again. “So, how have you been?”

Begrudgingly Gamma answered, as not to get Beta screaming in his ear. “Fine, thanks.” He said and looked ahead at his target; the door at the very end of the hall into the club.

Zanark looked at him, and his determined expression. He knew Gamma wasn’t interested but he would pry anyways. “I saw you and your team winning the soccer leagues. Protocol Omega is beating out Feida.” That was the other team high on the charts for the under 20 leagues that El Dorado set up. That was the league Zanark ended up joining.

“Yeah, they’ve been sucking lately.” Gamma said bitterly. It wasn’t true, but they did take quite a blow when Zanark left. Saru kept the team going just fine, however.

Zanark shrugged. “I guess we’ll see what happens in the next round.”

Without saying anything more, he reached over and opened the door to the club. Loud music blared and flashing lights illuminated the darkness every now and then. Zanark held the door open so Gamma could walk in first, and he did.

It looked the same. Everything in the club looked the same as he had been before. Same music, same decor, even the same kinds of people. He even saw familiar faces. Nothing looked out of the ordinary and Gamma assumed his teammates who followed him remotely thought the same, because they hadn’t said anything.

“Here, I’ll get you a drink.” Zanark leaned over to tell him over the loud music.

Gamma shook his head. “I can get my own drink.” He narrowed his eyes at him and watched him walk towards the bar. 

“Follow him!” Beta ordered.

Gamma rolled his eyes as he was already stepping that way. He ignored her.

“It’s okay, I want to.” Zanark explained to him. “After all, it’s my night tonight!”

The temporal agent narrowed his eyes further as he followed him. That was a strange thing to say. “Why is it ‘your night’?” Gamma couldn’t help but ask him, as they walked away from the source of the loud music. 

“The man of the hour is here!” The bartender interrupted their talking as soon as they walked up to the drink area. “This one’s on the house.”

“Actually, if you don’t mind, Shuten, I’d like to get one for my friend here.” Zanark grinned, sounding casual and confident to the bartender.

Shuten. That was the name of another Zanark Domain player. Gamma had recognized the bartender from before, even if his face was covered, and he knew he had served him a drink once or twice when he was at this club. Had Zanark Domain really been running this place?

“Two drinks then.” Shuten nodded and started off to make them.

“Zanark Domain runs the club?” Gamma said out loud to make sure that Alpha and Beta took note of it.

Zanark laughed. “Hardly.” He explained. “It’s actually technically run by two affluent members of the community. Lots of Zanark Domain members just work here. I’m surprised you just noticed. I’ve seen you coming to these things all the time.”

With a blush of embarrassment, he looked away. “Well, I’ve been a little preoccupied the last few times I’ve been here.”

“I’ll say.” Zanark grinned at him. “You get preoccupied a lot when you’re here.”

Realizing that he had been watched before, he crossed his arms in defense. Remembering the times he had drunk a little too much with Protocol Omega 3.0 or danced a little too close to a stranger, he felt so embarrassed at the idea that Zanark might have seen him, but he never saw Zanark. Also the fact that Beta and Alpha were remotely watching this made it so much worse.

“Whatever.” Gamma muttered.

Shuten placed two glasses of unknown liquid on the bar and then gave a gesture to someone across the room.

Gamma noticed and went to look, but couldn’t tell where the gesture was given too.

“Thanks, man.” Zanark grinned at his friend and took both of the drinks. He handed one to Gamma. “Cheers.”

Gamma nodded nonchalantly in response and took a sip. The spiciness of the drink initially hit him a little hard and he took the glass away from his mouth quicker than he wanted too. 

“Oh what, can’t handle a little alcohol? Grow up Gamma.” Beta’s voice in his ear mocked. She loved being mean when she was remote to Gamma because he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

He sneered and took another sip. It wasn’t as bad the second time around.

“It’s a little strong.” Zanark said as if he was reading his expression. “But you get used to it. It’s my favorite mix. Make sure not to drink too fast.” He warned.

Gamma didn’t think he would finish that glass tonight. “Sure.” He finally said. “So why is tonight your night anyways.”

“Club goers, may I have your attention please?” 

A voice over the loudspeakers interrupted the question yet again as the music dimmed down. All the patrons of the speakeasy began to settle and look over at the man playing music up on a small stage area. He had a microphone in hand, and his entire face was covered by a mask.

Another member of Zanark Domain, Gamma realized. The long purple hair gave away that it was Engiru, even though he had never seen his face before.

“Our man of the year is in the house!” Engiru said over the microphone. “The first ever former Second Stage Child to own their own theater and fund a show--Zanark Avalonic!”

Gamma could hardly believe the man he hated was getting all this praise but as he was trying to grasp what was going on, a spot light landed on both of them, as they were only about a foot apart from each other. 

The crowd roared and clapped as the light illuminated the smug looking Zanark who waved nonchalantly at the crowd.

“Zanark has promised the profits of the theater will go to the Former Second Stage Children in Need charity!”

“That’s the charity Saryuu Evan founded after Ragnarok.” Alpha said over the intercom. “He made it after Feida claimed that the Second Stage Children weren’t getting enough help after shutting off their SSC gene.”

So the question was are these things related? Gamma thought to himself, and looked around. Were these people part of the anti-El Dorado movement that they were so scared about after all?

“Not only is he amazingly generous,” Engiru continued on after the crowd got quieter. “But he’s also incredibly talented! He’s been casted by the director to be the lead role of the upcoming show! So buy tickets if you can and give it up for the MVP, Zanark Avalonic!”

As the crowd went wild, Gamma looked at the man who had helped him into the club.

“That’s why it’s my night.” Zanark finally said as he smiled and waved to those cheering and applauding him. 

Gamma couldn’t believe it. There was no way Zanark was that talented enough to be a lead role in anything performance wise, and be so generous that he would donate the funds of his family’s theater to random strangers. When he met him he was nothing but a criminal. This did not work in his image of him.

“So without further ado--let’s get crazy!” The music turned back up as Engiru spoke and everyone who had initially been cheering for Zanark, had gone back to their excited dancing and drinking.

Gamma shook his head. “That’s why this is going on? Because you’re donating money to charity?”

Zanark shook his head. “Nah, you know these parties go on every other week.” He said it as if he was calling him out for coming to these things more frequently than he should have. He would have been right if he said it, but Gamma wouldn’t admit it. “The casting list was just posted today and I killed my audition. Besides we’ve been donating our profits from the theater for a while now.”

“You auditioned?” Gamma had no idea how to take all of this. This was nothing like he was expecting.

“Yeah, how else do you think you end up in a show?” Zanark laughed. “My friends are just happy for me.”

Gamma nodded as if his mind was just blown. He sipped his lighter fluid tasting drink and stared into the crowd of dancing people. “Wow.” He said simply. 

“Yeah, so that’s what I’ve been doing with my life, in case you were wondering.” Zanark took another sip of his drink, grinning at the implication of his guest’s bad manners in not asking about him.

The agent nodded. “Well, this seems like a waste.” He muttered under his breath into his cup.

“Keep an eye out, if they’re working with Feida still and former SSC, maybe something’s up.” Beta said over the intercom system.

“Yes. Keep talking to him, maybe he’ll tell you something.” Alpha suggested.

However, there was nothing to see. Gamma kept looking around but as far as he was concerned everything looked normal. Maybe these people were just excited for their friend’s achievements.

“So, you donate to the former SSC?” Gamma asked looking to see if he could link the two things.

Zanark nodded. “Yeah.” He shrugged. “El Dorado didn’t really give up a whole lot of funding for those kids who didn’t have families or anything.”

A quick attack on his employer made Gamma think that this might have been more than meets the eye. “Oh?”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine you didn’t hear Saru complain about it.” Zanark looked at him expectantly. “He fought those old guys for a long time for funds before they even gave anything up.” 

Gamma wasn’t really on that side of the politics--he was just a Time Agent and his job was to fix time anomalies or possible threats against El Dorado. He never really knew how any of that worked. “Really.” He said still with skepticism.

“In any case, Saru is helping out those in need still, so I thought I might as well do the same.” Zanark said it so nonchalantly, like it wasn’t a big deal. He was just modestly bragging about his charity work. “Since El Dorado does next to nothing.”

Gamma gave a noise. “They definitely do things. I’m put on the job all the time.” He was offended for his employer and unintentionally took it as an attack on himself.

“Yeah, but that’s Protocol Omega. I’m talking about those old guys at the top.” Zanark raised an eyebrow at his own point.

Well, he wasn’t wrong, Gamma thought. Protocol Omega was a different faction, they were just run by those “old guys”. But the temporal agents had always done a lot of work for them it seemed. Sometimes Gamma thought it was unfair, but that’s only when he was tired of working, really. El Dorado housed them, fed them, paid them, and educated them. They were their children in a sense.

Zanark shrugged again. “Food for thought.” He said simply.

What food? There was nothing in that statement that made Gamma feel like he needed to think about it, so he rolled his eyes. Perhaps this guy was even dumber than he initially thought. “Whatever.” He muttered simply. 

“Do you wanna dance with me?”

Gamma looked at him confused. Had Zanark, of all people, just asked him to dance? While he was about to say no, he backtracked his line of thought, putting his ego on the backburner again. If he could use it as an opportunity to spy on the dance floor, there was no reason to say no. Besides they were supposed to be “getting close” if he was going to get information out of him. 

“Sure, I guess.” Gamma said with a wave of his hand as he walked his way towards the dance floor. 

“Gamma~~ if you’re not careful you’re going to fall in love with him~~” Beta’s voice over the intercom rang like a fly buzzing in his ear. 

He rolled his eyes, hating that he couldn’t just accuse her of being jealous that she didn’t get to drink and dance on the job.

As he stepped foot on the floor, the song changed as did Gamma’s mood. It’s said that when a song one likes comes on, it can change one’s whole mental state. That’s what happened to the temporal agent. 

“I love this song!” Gamma exclaimed, much more excitedly than he should have. He knew he had a job to do, but he could dance to at least one song, which is what he did.

He and Zanark danced through the duration of the song, while Gamma kept a glance at the things around him. He was a little distracted jumping around excitedly, but came back when he felt the other’s hands on his hips. 

Gamma almost pushed him away, but a compliment to stroke his ego calmed him.

“You’re a good dancer.”

Zanark’s lips right against his ear to lean in and tell him that, made Gamma shiver a little. He wasn’t used to being that physically close to anyone especially someone that wasn’t his friend. But the compliment kept him in place.

“Thanks.” He muttered and looked around the room surreptitiously for anything suspicious. Nothing.

“You should audition at my theater sometime. We could always use good dancers.”

Gamma’s face turned bright red, realizing that complement was actually right up his alley. As he was thinking about studying dance again as he had before, it wasn’t something out of the realm of possibility.

Well, it was. Technically Zanark was the enemy.

“Gamma, you’re needed at the base, at once.” Gamma’s intercom rang, but this time it was the Chairman’s voice.

Gamma looked at Zanark and shook his head. “I have to go.” He said and started walking backwards off the dancefloor. He turned around once he was able to.

“What? You just got here.” Zanark followed him off the floor now, and grabbed his hand as he was approaching the door to the outside. “C’mon stay and dance with me, we have catching up to do.”

“El Dorado summoned me.” Gamma placed a hand on his ear where the communicator was and took his other hand back, out of Zanark’s grasp. “Sorry.” He engaged the function on his communicator that he used to teleport considering it all an emergency. 

As he materialized away, he watched Zanark’s confused and somewhat disappointed face, disappear.

\--

Showing up at the base, he was greeted by a smile from Beta and a blank look from Alpha.

“What?” Gamma asked after a second of accusatory stares. 

“Anything else to report?” The chairman’s voice came from behind.

Gamma spun around to look at his superior and nodded. “Zanark is working directly with the charity to support the former SSC in need.” Unsure if Alpha or Beta had already given him that knowledge he carried on. “The members of the club seemed grateful for his services, but besides clear dissatisfaction of El Dorado directly from Zanark, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.” 

“Mm…” Toudou stood with a disapproving look at the temporal agent before going on. “We have what we need for this time, then. You’re all dismissed.”

All three of the leaders looked lost.

“Master, forgive me, but we have yet to organize the files. Should we be dismissed?” Alpha spoke up confused.

“It’s not necessary.” The Chairman continued on. “It appears I was misled and there’s nothing further to investigate with this. So you are dismissed.”

The three looked at each other and simultaneously spoke. “Yes, master.”

They politely nodded their heads as they left the workroom and closed the door behind them. Again, they looked at each other confused.

“That was weird, right?” Gamma asked the others as they seemed to have the same impression.

“Yes. It was...a little odd, to say the least.” Alpha agreed.

Beta shrugged. “Maybe he was embarrassed of your flirting with Zanark.” She giggled, now, making light of the situation even she thought wasn’t completely normal.

Gamma rolled his eyes. “You’re just jealous I got to drink on the job.” 

Alpha interjected himself again. “No.” He said simply.

Beta giggled again. “Oh, Alpha, aren’t you glad you have time off? Now you and Einamu can spend time together~~”

“Aww! You’re right~” Gamma agreed with Beta glad the attention was off of his own embarrassments.

“No.” Alpha blushed bright red and started walking ahead of them. They were right though, he was going to spend time with Einamu.

The other two giggled following to get to their own dorms as Alpha tried to ignore their teasing about his relationship.


	2. The Game

“The Chairman just let you leave?” Rujiku had been hanging out in Gamma’s room since he and the other leaders were dismissed from the mission. Gamma immediately went to find his best friend as he would have time to hang out with him for once.

Gamma nodded in response to his question. “Yeah, it was so odd.” He explained after telling the whole tale of the mission. “Everything about that was so weird. I never expected Zanark to work at a theater and donate to charity.”

“I wonder what happened to him. He just stopped working with Feida’s soccer team.” Rujiku thought hard about it now, because it was interesting. Usually Rujiku and Gamma bounced their missions back and forth on each other, since they worked well together. The two had been close friends since they were very young and they were basically inseparable. El Dorado realized that as they were growing and allowed them to regularly work together. 

However, this mission was strange. It was just the three leaders and the chairman. Everything was a little off.

“I don’t know.” Gamma shook his head. “Maybe it had to do with the theater. I’m more hung up on why the Chairman just dismissed us without looking into it any further. I was in that club, nothing looked out of the ordinary.”

“Did Alpha or Beta find anything?”

“No!” Then again, he didn’t ask them. But he assumed they would have said something to him. “The club looked exactly the same as when we went last time--even the same bartender. Oh, I did learn that a lot of Zanark Domain members work there though.” 

“Really?” Rujiku looked interested as he pulled his feet up on his best friend’s bed. “I’ve never noticed.”

“Me neither. Not until today.” Gamma gave an exasperated sigh. He was so sick of Zanark, and he had forgotten about how much he didn’t like him until he showed back up again. He was so thrown off by the compliments as well. That wasn’t like Zanark at all. How was everything so backwards all of a sudden?

Rujiku hummed and leaned into his best friend on his bed. “It seems strange.” He agreed again, and was silent for a second before going on. “Do you think the Chairman isn’t telling you something?” He asked curiously.

Gamma shrugged. “Maybe.” He knew that it had to be a possibility. But how likely was it? Generally they were told of all the details they needed to know. “He said he was misled by the signs so maybe he just didn’t see it as a threat.” He tried to justify it but it sounded strange coming out of his mouth, and it was clear from Rujiku’s expression he thought so too.

“Well, I guess there’s no point dwelling on it.” Rujiku shrugged against his best friend’s shoulder.

As the two simultaneously decided putting the pieces of this puzzle together was a little pointless, they resigned themselves to spending their free night watching movies in Gamma’s room.

\--

It only took a few days after the mission for the group to get completely over it. They had had regular work missions since then, and regular school hours and soccer practice.

This time they had a soccer match for the league that El Dorado made. It had been made up of several youth teams of teenagers from all over the world. However, Feida and Protocol Omega fought for the top spot undefeated except to each other.

The few days it took to get over the strange mission, the leaders got ready for their match. Feida would be their competitors this time around, depending on how the rest of the competition went, this might have been their last match together for the league.

When Protocol Omega the Youth Soccer Team showed up on the pitch, they were stopped in surprise by the sight. 

Feida’s team, formally the Lagoon during Ragnarok, had their forward replaced by none other than Zanark Avalonic.

Gamma was stopped in his tracks. He looked back behind him immediately at Rujiku who stood in the goal with a look of confusion. They had remembered their conversation about Zanark the day before.

“What is he doing here?” Beta asked confused, looking at Alpha who was designated the captain, much to Beta and Gamma’s chagrin.

Alpha didn’t take his eyes off of Zanark or Saru next to him. “I don’t know.” He said to her. “But we can’t let it get to us. He was on their team before anyways. Just play a fair match.”

Gamma heard that from Alpha and sneered. The last thing he needed was to think about Zanark again. The whole strange mission flooded back into his mind--and the small amount of time they danced together.

No--he had to think of the match.

They played on as scheduled, the civilians in the stands screaming for Protocol Omega each step they got. It seemed that their fans were louder than Feida’s but that was just the nature of things--Feida was once a terrorist organization after all.

Gamma hadn’t even had time to listen to the stands, he kept accidentally looking over at Zanark. What was he doing there?

“Gamma--!” Rujiku’s voice screamed from the goal, as Gamma nearly missed a pass.

Gamma grabbed the ball only to have himself tripped by Fei’s clearing of it. He had tripped over the other’s feet. It wasn’t called a foul, however, Fei was able to stand up first.

Fei held his hand out and cocked his head to the side. “Are you okay, Gamma?” They hadn’t really ever gotten along before--but they also had never had the time to. Fei was polite however, he knocked down the member of Protocol Omega, he would help him up.

And in the same polite fashion, Gamma took his hand and stood up. “I’m fine.” 

“You’re not really in the game.” Fei observed. “You keep looking at Zanark.”

Gamma looked at the boy completely floored that he had even noticed. He shook his head and decided he’d ask him directly. “Why is he back on your team?” He asked him curiously as he watched the ball get ready for a throw in.

Fei shrugged. “He asked to join again. Saru said it would be okay.” He explained. “He just showed up a few days ago, saying that he could be of use to us.”

Gamma shook his head incredulously.

“Don’t get too distracted by it.” Fei suggested with a sweet smile. “We wanna play a good game with you guys.”

The time agent raised an eyebrow but nodded anyways. “Don’t get too complacent.” He decided to put back on his arrogant facade. It was better than being distracted. “We are going to destroy you.”

Fei gave a grin and went after the ball that was thrown in.

By half time they were still 0-0, which just attested to how strong both teams were. Zanark hadn’t said anything to Protocol Omega. No conceited comments, no catch-phrases, nothing. He just continued to play, giving a smirk each time his shot got stopped by Rujiku or their defenders. 

“We need to be wary of Zanark.” Einamu suggested. “I think he’s hiding something. Why else would he be here suddenly?”

“Yes.” Alpha agreed. He would always agree with Einamu, though. “Keep your guard up.”

Beta and Gamma glanced at each other and then nodded in agreement with their captains words.

The second half continued and it was fine until Feida got their first goal.

“I told you Feida wouldn’t suck with me!” Zanark’s boastful personality came back as he turned away from the goal to celebrate with his teammates. 

Saru just chuckled. “I suppose you were right, Zanark.” He shrugged in response, leaving to get ready for their line up again.

Zanark grinned and moved his gaze back to Gamma. “D’ya see that?” He asked.

It was the first thing he had said to Gamma the whole match, and it was completely stupid. Of course he saw it. Their team conceded a point.

“You better go line up Zanark.” Beta said bitterly at him as she jogged back to her starting position.

Zanark laughed. “Sure thing, Princess.” He said to her as he started leaving his half of the pitch.

Beta gave a fake giggle and then grimaced at Gamma, who mirrored the sentiment. What was up with this guy?

The game carried on, and was uneventful until the last few minutes when Alpha, Beta, and Gamma scored with a shot chain. Gamma gave the final blow into the net.

The game ended 1-1. The league wasn’t over, then.

“That was a good game!” Fei walked over to Gamma now, as their game had ended. “You really stepped it up in that last half.”

Gamma grinned at the younger boy in front of him, and gave a nonchalant shrug. “I told you.” He knew he didn’t keep his promise of destroying them, but at least he was able to gloat. “I guess we’ll be playing each other again.”

Saru walked up to the two and smiled. “Aren’t you two getting along.” He chuckled and placed a hand on Fei’s back.

Fei smiled at Saru. “Yeah.” He agreed. “Gamma was asking about Zanark earlier.” 

Gamma had nearly forgotten but he looked over to see Zanark on the bench drinking water. Why was he so curious about him?

“Oh yeah?” Saru glanced over at Zanark as well and shrugged. “He’s been a loyal ally of Feida for a while. But he took a break from soccer to fix up his family’s theater. They’re going to start opening for shows soon, and donating some of the profits to my charity.” He seemed pleased with this outcome, and he looked back at Gamma with a smile. “You should come see it. It’s promised to be high quality.”

Gamma raised an eyebrow now confused by the proposal, but he shrugged. “Maybe.” He wasn’t planning on it, but he was getting more and more curious as he learned more about Zanark. It turns out the theater was a big reason for his disappearance according to El Dorado and Feida. Strange.

“Well, I should head back to the group.” Gamma told them with a nod. “I’ll see you guys around.”

“Maybe we’ll see you at the parties again!” Fei speculated.

Gamma paused a moment. “Come again?”

“You know, at the parties that you go to. Me and Saru have seen you there before.”

Saru nodded in agreement. “You should come tonight, we will be there.”

Gamma blushed a moment and nodded. He had never seen them at those parties but they had seen him. He hated that this appeared to be a constant. 

“Ah.” He finally said back to them. “I have work tonight, but I’ll see if I see you guys again.” 

They gave their goodbyes and left the pitch.

Gamma gave a glance to see Zanark once more, but he had already left.

\--

In the changing rooms, Gamma went back and forth on whether or not he would go to that party. He did enjoy dancing and having fun, but the idea that he would see Feida--or Zanark--made him uneasy.

Anyways, he did have work to do, so he’d probably be too tired afterwards. But...he still thought about it. Maybe he’d take Rujiku.

“Watcha thinkin’ about?” Beta asked as she walked up to Gamma. She was already changed and waiting on the boys. 

Gamma didn’t even realize he was spacing out as he put on his work uniform. “Nothing.” He lied.

“Was it your boyfriend, Zanark~~?”

“Shut up.” Gamma sneered at her and grabbed his things now.

“You were distracted by him all day!” She continued on. “That’s the reason we didn’t win the game, I bet.”

“No.” Alpha interjected again. “Feida got stronger, that was why. We need to reevaluate our strategy for the next matches.” 

Beta pouted. “I was teasing Gamma, Alpha, get a clue.” She crossed her arms. “We have to go to work anyways, come on.”

Alpha would have blushed because he couldn’t read the room but he was distracted by Einamu who smiled at Alpha. He blushed for that instead.

Beta ignored him and started walking towards the door. “Let’s go.” She suggested, a little annoyed at the idea that she would have to go to work after this.


	3. The Club

By the end of work, Gamma had decided he was going to go to the party. The endless amounts of busy work El Dorado had given the agents that night was so boring, that he needed to do something fun. He didn’t care that he had to be up early the next morning.

After some light persuading, he got Rujiku to join him. Of course this was all in secret as they made their way to Gamma’s room the night. There was no way he’d let Beta or Alpha know he was going.

Rujiku didn’t like breaking the rules--they weren’t supposed to go out on nights they had to be up early, and they weren’t supposed to go out to places where it could look bad for El Dorado’s public image--but Gamma was his best friend. He had a very hard time saying no to him.

The two got dressed out of their uniforms, and made their way sneaking off out of the dorms fairly easily. Gamma was good at it.

And when they got to the place, they were met by a different bouncer. Yasha wasn’t there, but they didn’t have a hard time getting in at all. Again, this wasn’t their first time doing this.

“It seems more busy today.” Rujiku noticed as the hall to the actual club was filled with people talking and drinking up against the walls. 

Gamma shrugged. “I guess people want to go out.” It was a Friday after all. Maybe people had this night off. Protocol Omega would never be that lucky, but they made time for themselves.

With that last sentiment, they got to the end of the hall, and Gamma opened the door to the loud music and flashing lights. Again, Engiru was the DJ, so that was an interesting sight. Gamma appreciated his taste in music.

“Are we gonna go dance?” Rujiku asked as he looked around.

“Gamma--!” They were interrupted before Gamma could dictate what they would do by the call of his name. 

He looked over to see familiar green and a familiar former emperor of Feida. Fei was running over to the two with Saru in one hand and a colorful drink in the other.

“You made it! And brought Rujiku!”

Rujiku smiled politely.

Gamma didn’t expect such a welcome committee--it’s not like he and Fei were super close at any time--but he thought it was cute how excited he was. 

“Yeah, I decided to grace you all with my presence.” Gamma said with an elegant wave of the hand. “Rujiku is along for the ride.”

Rujiku shrugged. He always let Gamma do the talking.

Fei giggled. “That’s fun!” He said excitedly. He was rather bubbly this time around it seemed to Gamma. Perhaps it was the drink, which he couldn’t tell if it was alcoholic or not.

“It’s nice you could grace us again. We never have a chance to talk to you whenever you’re here.” Saru said humbly, but still had a somewhat smug smile on his face.

Gamma thought that was a strange statement but he still shrugged nonchalantly. “I get busy, what can I say?” He explained off-handedly.

“Well, we can talk now.” Fei happily stated as he let go of Saru’s hand to hold Gamma’s. “A lot of Feida is here today, I think Zanark is here.”

Gamma grimaced a bit. “Gross.” He meant it, but he wanted it to sound like a joke. 

“Gross? But you danced with him the other night.” Fei cocked his head to the side. “The night where he found out he got into the show.”

With a blush, remembering that previous night he was on a job, he shrugged. “I was just bored.” He said simply. “I don’t like Zanark.”

Saru chuckled a bit. “He’s kind of a lot, isn’t he?” He shook his head as he thought about it. “But he’s been an invaluable asset to Feida, I’m glad that he’s with us again.”

Rujiku looked at Gamma who looked back at him skeptically. They both didn’t like Zanark after what had happened all those years ago, but they were also skeptical about the night of the job. It was all too strange. 

“Well,” Gamma didn’t want to talk about Zanark anymore. “I’m going to get a drink.”

“I’ll go with you!” Fei smiled and looked at Rujiku. “Do you want a drink too, Rujiku?”

Rujiku paused a moment and shook his head. “No, thank you.” He decided he would be the one to stay sober. “I’ll let Gamma drink.”

Fei held up his drink. “This is non-alcoholic!” He explained. “I can get you one of these instead. They’re really good!”

“O-oh okay.” Rujiku chuckled a bit.

Fei giggled and continued to hold Gamma’s hand as he led the group to the bar. Shuten was mixing drinks and looked up to see the group.

“Hey, Protocol Omega’s back.” Shuten grinned as he noticed them and gave a nod to the captain. “Zanark’s looking for you, you know.”

“Mm.” Gamma hummed as those words left a sour taste in his mouth. He did not like knowing Zanark wanted to see him tonight. He shouldn’t have come...though, what could he want with him? 

“Can you make Rujiku one of these?” Fei asked Shuten, holding up his drink.

Shuten chuckled. “Sure thing. What about you, Leader?” He gave the name of the Protocol captain’s with a bit of a mocking tone, but he was just trying to be friendly. 

“Surprise me.” Gamma shrugged, smiling politely. He didn’t care if it was alcoholic or not, he wouldn’t get drunk. Especially not when Zanark was prowling around. It wasn’t as if he thought he would take advantage of that, but moreover Gamma didn’t like to lose control. He would do everything he could to remain in power of himself, even if that meant not drinking too much.

“I’ll have whatever he’s having.”

Speak of devils and they do appear, Gamma thought. He heard Zanark’s voice from behind him at the bar and he rolled his eyes. He didn’t even turn around right away. He knew who he was.

“Comin’ up, boss.” Shuten grinned at both him and Gamma’s face.

“Zanark’s back.” Fei giggled.

Reluctantly Gamma turned around to give a bit of a grin to him. “Would you look at that.” He said nonchalantly.

Zanark was clad with a big smile on his face and casual dark clothes. “Hey, I’m glad you made it here tonight.”

Gamma shook his head at him. “It’s not like you invited me here.” He said with a bit of poison in his voice. “Fei and Saru did.”

Zanark shrugged. “If I invited you, you wouldn’t have come.”

It was backwards logic, and the time agent turned around to grab his drink that was quickly prepared for him. He knew it was a mistake to go out tonight. He sipped his drink, noticing it was the same lighter fluid tasting drink from the night before. Great.

Zanark grabbed his drink as well and he chuckled. “I’m glad Rujiku is here too. What’d you think of my shot technique?” He asked as he placed a friendly hand on the goalkeepers shoulder.

Rujiku jumped as he did, usually priding himself on not being so nervous, but the circumstances of breaking the rules and dealing with someone Gamma didn’t like, made his composure falter. “A-ah, yeah, it was good.” He had no idea how to answer.

Zanark gave a hearty laugh.

“That was such a good game.” Fei cut in excitedly. “I can’t wait to play against each other again!”

Gamma looked at Fei and smiled. He was cute. “I look forward to it.” He shrugged nonchalantly again.

Zanark sipped his drink and nodded in agreement. “Protocol Omega doesn’t stand a chance now that I’m on the team.” He arrogantly stated. 

Gamma’s smile faded. “We’ll see about that.”

Zanark laughed again. “Lighten up, Gamma, I’m just bantering.” He nudged him, playfully. “You take everything too seriously.”

“You don’t know me.” Gamma snapped back at him, as he wasn’t into the idea of being judged incorrectly.

“Then let me get to know you.” Zanark gave a smooth comeback. He grinned a cocky smile as he sipped his drink again. 

Gamma blushed as he heard Fei giggle a bit from next to him. “Don’t push your luck.” He muttered back, sipping his drink as well.

Zanark shrugged and turned to give Gamma his space, but still in some ways, to stay in his bubble. He started talking to Saru.

Rujiku turned to his captain. “Gamma, are you sure you want to stick around?” He was more protective of him that he’d admit, but being his best friend came with that sort of responsibility.

“No, don’t go!” Fei cut in and grabbed Gamma’s hand with a bit of a pout. “You just got here. You haven’t been able to dance yet.” 

“I don’t know if I feel much like dancing.” The time agent muttered as he glanced at Zanark. Flashbacks of the night before of dancing with him made his cheeks flush. He couldn’t let that happen again. 

Fei sighed a moment. “Well, okay, but if you want, you can dance with me. Saru doesn’t like to dance much.” 

Gamma couldn’t help but smile at Fei and at that notion. The little bunny was kind of cute. Maybe they really would get along. “Well,” he looked up at his goalkeeper. “You heard him, I can’t just leave Fei to dance alone.”

Rujiku gave a bit of a smile, but a nervous one. As much as he worried, he knew deep down, Gamma wanted to have fun. “Okay, if you say so.”

Fei brightened at that notion and he turned to his boyfriend, unintentionally interrupting his and Zanark’s conversation. “Me and Gamma and Rujiku are going to go dance.” He informed them.

With a look of confusion, the time agent realized that he was either going to have to finish his drink, or leave it there for later, because Fei decided they would dance. He shook his head, as he decided he was there to have fun anyways so he might as well go with that. He sipped his drink one last time before setting it down.

“Okay, be safe.” Saru said protectively at his boyfriend.

“We’ll be here.” Zanark grinned.

Hearing that Zanark wouldn’t be joining them sent a wave of relief to the captain’s mind. He prided himself on being cool and collected most of the time, so when things bothered him he did his best not to show it.

Zanark made that difficult suddenly.

Gamma watched Rujiku down his non-alcoholic drink and offered to pay it for him. 

“It’s on the house.” Shuten waved his hand at them with a smile. “You guys are friends.”

“Friends” was an interesting term in Gamma’s eyes, since he would never have thought he would be friends with a member of Zanark Domain. He smiled anyways and thanked him before Fei grabbed Gamma’s hand once more.

“Let’s go!” He said excitedly. 

With that, the group found their ways to dance and mingle with strangers. It was dark, and loud, but that’s what made it fun. Gamma and Rujiku weren’t part of Protocol Omega at that moment, they were just young adults having a good time like everyone else.

They spent a long while in the crowd of people before Gamma left to get water, leaving Fei and Rujiku by themselves. The two seemed to get along splendidly, which was a rather interesting sight. Protocol Omega and Feida didn’t mingle together too much, even after the war ended, but there wasn’t so much hate directed at each other anymore. Perhaps that was just them growing.

Either way, Gamma needed to get out of the warmth of the dance floor. He found himself at the back of the club where the music wasn’t so loud and there was a station of water. He grabbed himself a drink and leaned up against the wall.

Looking at his watch, and communicator, he noticed how late it was and sighed. He wasn’t going to be able to stay much longer. They had to be up pretty early for schooling.

“You looked like you were having fun.” 

Of course, Zanark’s voice ruined the peaceful moment.

He looked up at him and shrugged. “It’s alright.” He said nonchalantly. He didn’t want to make conversation with Zanark. 

Zanark, however, wouldn’t take that. He’d make Gamma talk to him. “You and Rujiku are close.” He observed, trying to get a rise out of him now. “Is he your boyfriend?”

And it worked. Gamma’s face flushed with embarrassment at the idea. “What? No.” He looked at him confused. “He’s just a friend.”

“You guys seem too close for friends.”

Gamma narrowed his eyes at him. How dare he assume something about his life. “He’s my best friend.” He explained in a bitter tone. “But you wouldn’t understand that.”

Zanark looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Oh yeah?” He asked curiously. “And why not?”

“No one likes you enough to be your friend.” 

It was harsh, and Gamma knew that, but he wanted him to know he was still mad at him. He wasn’t sure why, but he was. Perhaps it was what he did all those years ago, or perhaps because they were looking into him at El Dorado, but something about him just made him angry.

But Zanark took that in stride. He looked at Gamma impressed. “Wow.” He muttered and crossed his arms. “That’s a cruel accusation.” 

Knowing it was a little mean, Gamma looked away and shrugged. 

“I thought you and I were getting along the last time you came around.” Zanark shrugged and leaned against the wall now with him. “What’s made tonight any different?”

Tonight, I’m not at work investigating you and your friends, Gamma thought, but would never say that out loud. “I don’t trust you.” He finally said, looking for something in between the truth and a lie.

Zanark looked at him and nodded. “That’s fair.” He gave, as if he forgave the mean stuff that was said previously. “What can I do to make you trust me?”

Gamma looked at him, expecting a sarcastic expression, something smug and annoying, but that wasn’t what he got.

He was serious.

“I beg your pardon?” Gamma was still in shock that he wasn’t joking.

“What can I do to make you trust me?” Zanark asked again.

This time it fully set in, and Gamma gave an incredulous laugh. “You took over my body and my mind, and my teammates, and nearly got me and them fired from our positions at El Dorado. You humiliated me in front of everyone. You aren’t someone to be trusted.”

Zanark gave a bit of a laugh when he heard that. “That was years ago.” He reflected but when he didn’t get a change of expression from Gamma he shook his head. “Look, I’m sorry. But I helped you guys out in the end.”

Gamma grimaced. “Not before kicking a ball at my face.”

Zanark gave a chuckle again. “Yeah, sorry about that.” He apologized again. “I was going through stuff back then.”

Gamma shook his head. What kind of excuse was that? He rolled his eyes before sipping his water again and placing his arm in front of his middle, pulling into himself. He was doing so well at avoiding Zanark all night, until now.

However, he didn’t expect him to apologize at all. That was interesting.

“Look, can I make it up to you?” Zanark’s voice rang out again.

“Why?” Gamma shook his head in disbelief. What could he possibly want with him? What did he have that he could need?

“Because I think you’re interesting, and I don’t want you to hate me before getting to know me.”

That was a bold statement. Gamma shook his head again. “Whatever.”

“Come on. Let me make it up to you.” Zanark let his arms fall to his sides now from their crossed position, and he peeled himself on the wall to stand in front of the temporal agent.

There was a moment of silence as Gamma looked into his eyes to see how serious he was. Why was he falling for this?

“...how?”

Zanark broke a bit of a grin when he realized he was winning this battle. “I want you to come to a rehearsal.” He explained to him. “Just to see what I’ve been doing. I want to show you I’ve changed.”

Gamma would have to admit he was curious. However, actually getting to a rehearsal would be the tough part. He shook his head. “I’ll see if I can make one.”

“We have evening rehearsals in the next coming days. I’ll pick you up tomorrow night then.”

“Wha--” Before Gamma could even retort, Zanark had waved and left, getting lost in a crowd of people.

He was so annoying.

As his anger at the guy who used to be his enemy stewed further, he got a beep on his communicator and an angry message.

“Gamma, you are past curfew, and you are to come back to El Dorado at once.” 

The Chairman’s voice made Gamma curse at his watch.

“Damn it!” He pressed the button and talked into it. “Yes, master.” He changed his tune for that alone and shook his head.

He was in so much trouble.

\--

After saying goodbye to his new friends at the bar, he and Rujiku ended up in the Chairman’s office, stood in front of his desk obediently and very clearly in a bubble of shame.

“You two knew you were not to go out after curfew.” The chairman folded his hands in front of his face as he remained seated, staring at the two of them. “Didn’t you?”

“Yes, master.” They both spoke at the same time.

“You are temporal agents representing El Dorado.” He continued to scold them. “Do you know how bad this could look for us, should the public notice you are out doing things you should not do?”

Gamma took the chiding gracefully and shook his head. “With all due respect, Master, we didn’t do anything in poor taste, we only danced.”

Toudou narrowed his eyes at the two of them. The Chairman was not happy with those words. “You danced with people who could be fringe members of an anti-government gang. You know that this could be in poor taste.”

With a bit of confusion on his expression, Gamma continued. “I thought you said that was a mistake.” If El Dorado did anything, they taught their agents to be very observant, and the captain would even use his skills on his superiors.

“I don’t need your backtalk.” Toudou scolded, putting his hands down on the table now. “You two are lucky I don’t send you straight to Mugen Prison for this. I’m going to let you both off with a warning, but if I catch you out again when you aren’t supposed to be, you will be punished accordingly. Is that understood?”

“Yes, master.” They said in unison again.

“Good, now go to bed. You have schooling in the morning.”

The two nodded respectfully, and left the room. As the door closed they looked at each other.

“So the mission wasn’t a mistake.” Rujiku whispered to Gamma.

Gamma nodded as they began to walk to their rooms. “He’s not telling us something.” He whispered back. “They’re afraid of someone.”

“We shouldn’t have done that.” Rujiku sighed as he thought about it. “I don’t want to go to Mugen Prison.” 

“You won’t. I promise I won’t get you in trouble.” Gamma made that promise and meant it. There was too much at stake now, and he wouldn’t be sneaking out with Rujiku anymore.

Maybe he would figure this all out himself, and sneak out on his own.


	4. The Rehearsal

“I knew that mission was too weird.” Beta muttered after she listened to Gamma’s story about what the chairman had said about the anti-government movement. The group had gathered outside of their classroom after they had their schooling as per Gamma’s request.

Alpha nodded in agreement. “Yes. It seems like they’re hiding something.”

“The real question is why.” Gamma tapped on his arm as he crossed them in front of him. They all kept their voices low as they spoke, there’s no telling who could hear them in El Dorado.

“Maybe they have intel on the subject that we don’t know about.” Beta suggested. “Maybe something on Zanark.”

“That’s possible.” Alpha cut in. “It was only when you got close to Zanark did they cut the mission short.” 

Gamma blushed a bit at that implication but he tried to play it off cool. “Maybe.” He agreed. “Either way, I’m painfully curious and I want to know more.”

“Me too.” Beta nodded, looking around her as if to make sure no one was listening.

Alpha’s eyes darted back and forth, doing the same. “We shouldn’t get involved.”

Beta pouted. “Alpha, you’re no fun!” She broke a bit of a cocky smile at him. “If you don’t want in on it, me and Gamma will figure it out what’s going on with his boyfriend.”

Gamma rolled his eyes. “Zanark is not my boyfriend.” He kept out that he technically had a date scheduled with him. He decided that unless it was necessary to tell them, he would keep it a secret.

Alpha’s eyebrows twitched into a pained expression on his usual expressionless face. “Okay.” He agreed quietly. “I’ll keep my eyes out.”

Gamma grinned. “Smart.” He looked around as well and took a step away from the group. “I have work, I’ll see you guys around.” 

They parted ways, all three of them wanting to know what the Chairman was hiding.

\--

Gamma was very detail oriented. It was one of the reasons he was good at his job, and he generally always had a list of things he had to do on his mind. It was rare for things to slip up. 

However, that’s exactly what happened after work when he turned the corner at El Dorado and saw Zanark standing there, waiting patiently for him.

Standing in the hallway, Zanark had his arms crossed and his comfortable clothes on. His hair tied back behind his shoulders, he had a smug look on his expression.

“They really work you guys to the bone here, huh?” He asked as Gamma stopped in his tracks to look at him. 

Gamma raised an eyebrow trying to maintain an air of poise. “We are just doing the work we are supposed to do.” He explained to him and looked around. “You shouldn’t be here anyways, what if someone saw you? You can’t just waltz in here like you own the place.”

Zanark let out a laugh. “Yeah, yeah, well, come on we’re late.” He gestured for him to follow and started walking back the direction Gamma presumed he came from.

With a sigh, and a sense of unending curiosity, Gamma knew he would have to follow. As they easily snuck past the guards of the premises, Zanark took them to his hoverbike that was waiting outside of them. He hopped on and patted the back of it for him. 

“Well, you gonna join me?”

Gamma stared at him a moment, debating on whether or not he really wanted to be in a compromising position like that. But in the end, he knew there was no other choice. He looked around to make sure no one was watching before he walked over to the bike and threw a leg over gracefully sitting behind him.

“Hold on.” Zanark warned him as he started the machine up. 

Reluctantly, Gamma did just that, grabbing onto the other’s torso, as he knew these machines could be uncomfortably fast. 

With a bit of teleportation and some driving, they ended up outside of the once-destroyed, now rebuilt downtown area of the city. Parking the bike in front of a large theater that Gamma hadn’t noticed before, he figured that this must have been his family’s theater.

“We’re here.” Zanark said as he got off the bike and held out a hand to help Gamma. He figured he wouldn’t take it.

Gamma didn’t take it and jumped off himself. “I see that.” He answered as he followed the lead of his “date” inside. 

Zanark led them around the side of the building which led them to a door to the back of the house. He opened it like he owned the place, which in essence he probably did, and held the door open for Gamma.

“You’re late Zanark!” The voice rang out familiar to Gamma, as he turned to see who it was. A boy with curly blonde hair and glasses, who had a position on Feida’s soccer team. Giris was not pleased.

“Yeah, I know, I had to pick up my date.” He pointed at Gamma, who just gave a slightly uncomfortable look.

“Well Meia is going to kill you, regardless.” Giris explained and pressed a button on his communicator. “Zanark’s finally decided to show his face.”

“Good I don’t have to recast him.” Meia’s voice rang out from the communicator, loud enough for both of them to hear.

Zanark gave a laugh and placed his hand on Giris’s shoulder. “I’m going.” He promised and beckoned Gamma to follow him.

Through the back of the building, they walked down isolated halls that lead to other doors on their walk. People seemed to occupy the rooms and Gamma caught them at the corner of his eyes as they worked. Some of these people looked familiar, assuming that other members of Feida were probably here.

Zanark walked them to a door and smiled at Gamma. “This is the Front of House door.” He opened it and it brought them to hundreds of seats all around them. 

“Whoa.” Gamma’s voice broke a word of confusion as he hadn’t realized how big the building actually was. Looking around and seeing the stage in front of all these seats, he realized this was so much more than he ever would have thought. “This place is massive…”

“Yeah.” Zanark gave a laugh as he walked them in. “I got to expand it with a bigger balcony section.”

Meia’s head jerked over from her seated position in front of the stage. She glared at the two who had just entered. “Zanark, get on stage, you’re missing the blocking.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Zanark said somewhat with a sarcastic grin.

“Gamma!” Fei’s voice this time rang through the theater. He was sitting near Meia, with Saru at his side. “Come sit with us!”

Gamma looked at Zanark who was walking towards the stage already, and he decided he might as well sit with Fei. He walked over and sat down next to him. He’d spent a lot of time with him lately, it seemed.

“Hey Fei.” Gamma muttered as he sat down next to him, watching Zanark hop up on the stage and talk theater with Meia. “What’s...even going on?”

Fei looked at him confused. “I was just going to ask you the same thing.” He gave a bit of a giggle. “What are you doing here?”

“Zanark invited me here.” He explained.

“Oh.” Fei and Saru exchanged a look, but then he turned back to smile at him. “Well, he probably wants to show you around.”

“Is Feida putting a show on?” Gamma looked around and saw the faces of people who helped start a war only a few years ago. But then again, he saw people he didn’t quite know either. It was confusing.

Saru shook his head. “Oh, no.” He explained. “Some members of Feida work here. Meia is the director.” 

“Which is weird that she casted Zanark as the lead part, she hates him.” Fei explained their situation with a bit of confusion. He smiled at Gamma. “But it’s pretty neat though. He fits the part perfectly.”

No wonder they were donating money to Saru’s organization. They were borrowing labor. Even still Gamma supposed it wasn’t anything scandalous. Maybe this had nothing to do with El Dorado’s mission. No one seemed anti-government here, but he supposed he’d watch a few of the acts to see if it had something to do with the performance.

It seemed, as he watched, that it didn’t. It looked like nothing but an old musical that was Meia’s choice according to Fei. A romantic one, which made sense with her being a romantic herself. 

However, Gamma was enthralled by the rehearsal, even though they stopped to fix blocking, and redid scenes over and over again. It was a sight to watch. He had never been a part of something like this before. Well, it wasn’t far beyond what he did at Protocol Omega. Everything was rehearsed to look nice and professional, he realized they were similar in that way. 

But what really caught him was Zanark’s singing which regularly got interrupted so Meia could direct him further. What Gamma could hear, he was actually a good singer. It was so interesting. There was so much about Zanark he didn’t know.

One thing he did notice, however, was when choreography got brought up, Zanark didn’t quite do it. It was so annoying to Gamma.

“Ugh…” Gamma muttered in his seat, crossing his arms.

“What’s wrong?” Fei asked looking over at him. 

Gamma looked at him and then back at the stage. “Zanark’s an idiot.” He muttered quietly.

Saru cocked his head to the side as he looked over. “Why do you say that?” He chuckled a bit.

“He’s doing it wrong. He’s not in the right time.” Gamma muttered quietly. He hadn’t done too much dance, but he did enough to be considered good at it, as it was required by El Dorado in an exercise of body balance. He was the best at it out of him and the other leaders.

Saru stood up and lifted a hand, as if he was still the emperor of Feida. He got everyone’s attention, including Meia’s.

“Zanark. Gamma says you’re doing it wrong.” Saru smiled as he interrupted the entire rehearsal for that.

Zanark grinned. “Oh? What am I doing wrong, Gamma?” He asked on the strage.

Meia rolled her eyes.

Gamma realized all the eyes were on him now but he stayed seated, arms crossed and a pragmatic expression. “You’re turning on the wrong beat, and lifting your arms in third position instead of fifth.” He used technically balletic terms that had been used for centuries, but everyone still looked impressed.

Zanark chuckled. “Oh? Then show me?” He opened his arms out towards the stage as if to beckon him up.

Gamma looked at him suspiciously at first but realized he meant it when he didn’t move in a few seconds, and kept his smile.

“Okay.” Gamma stood up. “I will.” 

He pridefully marched his way up the steps and onto the stage and stood next to Zanark. He counted a beat before showing the eight beats of dance, turning at the right moment and placing his arms correctly. He finished and looked at him now waiting for a response.

Zanark then did the sequence perfectly and grinned after he was done.

Gamma watched a little confused as to how he picked it up quickly.

“I thought you’d do that.” Zanark interrupted his confusion and looked out to the crew. “He’s a good dancer.”

The room agreed and some applauded, others laughed and Gamma stood lost. Usually he would bask in the attention, but Zanark was so smug. That’s when it hit him.

“Wait--you wanted me to get up here, didn’t you?”

Zanark shrugged nonchalantly. “I come from a family of professional dancers. I’ve been performing since I was born. Do you think I’d mess up such an easy move?” 

The deception was enough to make Gamma’s blood boil, but the attention he got from the people in the room simmered it down. He shook his head and hopped off the stage now, deciding he would go sit back down and let them continue to rehearse.

“You’re such a good dancer.” Fei complimented as Gamma sat next to him. “Why didn’t you audition for the show?”

Gamma looked at Fei as if he was crazy. He had no time to audition for something so frivolous. He had a job and his studies to think about. And El Dorado would never let him affiliate with these people on a regular basis. Especially not Zanark.

“I had no idea it was happening.” He used this excuse instead so he didn’t have to explain his slave-like labor at El Dorado. Most people didn’t understand anyways.

“You definitely should the next time around.” Saru suggested with a genuine smile. 

Gamma shrugged but didn’t say anything. He really did enjoy the attention he got when he performed, but he would never do something like this. 

Hours of rehearsing passed by, and Gamma watched, enthralled as ever. It was something he had never seen or been a part of before, so it was all very new to him. Once it was finally over, Zanark walked up to Gamma holding a hand out for him to take from his seated position.

“Let’s get outta here.” He suggested.

This time, Gamma took his hand, but let it go after he stood up. They said their goodbyes and left, going back to Zanark’s hoverbike. They got on and drove off, without teleportation. Gamma looked around as he held onto him.

“This isn’t the way back to El Dorado.” He observed.

“We’re going to my favorite place first.” Zanark explained.

Gamma gave a frustrated noise. He was going to get no sleep tonight as it was already midnight.

After a good while of driving, they ended up on a cliffside where Zanark parked that overlooked the whole city. It was secluded and dark except for the lights of the stars and moon and the lights of the city far below them.

“Wow…” Gamma muttered as he and Zanark got off the bike. He followed Zanark to the cliff’s edge where Zanark sat down, overlooking the lights. He sat down next to him somewhat struck by the awesome sight of the world under him.

“Yeah.” Zanark chuckled looking out to the view. “I like to come here to think.” 

Gamma looked at him a moment and then back out again. “Why did you bring me here then?” He asked, unsure if he should be worried about his intentions or not. 

“I think you could use some thinking.” Zanark told him with a nod. “And I want you to know that I’m not the same person I was back then.” 

“You can say that again…” Gamma had to admit there was a lot about Zanark he didn’t know. “I had no idea that you came from a family of dancers.”

“They were Kabuki actors first.” Zanark explained. “Then a line of performers, so by then I was just doing everything. My whole family was actually. Before they died.” 

Gamma didn’t know how to respond to that. He wasn’t good at grief. “I’m sorry.” He finally muttered.

“It’s alright, it was a long time ago now.” With a turn of the head, he glanced at Gamma. “They died in the collateral damage of the war. So back then I had a lot of rage at El Dorado. That’s why I was the way I was.”

Realizing this was a lot heavier of a conversation than he was used too, Gamma looked down. He never had to deal with the victims of the war of the second stage children as a time agent--he was mostly on the front lines of time anomalies. He always knew there were casualties, but he wasn’t sure that he’d ever meet anyone, or know anyone who lost their lives or lost loved ones.

“That’s why I’m carrying on my family’s legacy.” Zanark spoke when he realized his date wouldn’t be saying anymore. “This is just the first performance of many that will go on at that theater, as they did with my family before me.” 

“That’s very noble.” Gamma mumbled staring off into the view again. 

Zanark shrugged. “Eh, it turns out it’s just what I love. That and soccer.” 

Gamma nodded.

“What do you love?” Zanark turned to ask him now.

Gamma looked at him confused. “What?”

“Do you have a plan for the future? Doing something you love?”

Gamma stared at him and then looked out at the world again. “Oh, I don’t know.” He finally muttered. He wasn’t sure how he felt talking about these things with Zanark. “I have a good job with El Dorado, so it’s pretty evident I’ll be working with Protocol Omega my whole life.”

Zanark kept his eyes on the time agent next to him. “But you don’t love it.” He stated as if he was reading his mind.

Gamma glanced at him and then back to the view. He didn’t like being able to be read so easily. “It’s important.” He explained. “It’s essentially what I was always doing, so it’s what I was made to do. It’s my destiny.”

“Nah, that’s bullshit.” Zanark cursed.

Gamma didn’t like his words challenged. “You’re doing your destiny.” He retorted. 

Zanark shook his head. “No, I’m not.” He said confidently. “I’m doing what I want to do. My destiny was going to be in prison for El Dorado before I took my life back. I made my own future.”

Realizing that he happened to forget that Zanark was a criminal, he remembered why he was supposed to be on edge. There was a chance he was a threat to El Dorado. He had to remain on his guard. He knew he had to stop talking too much. He couldn’t let out too much information.

“So, are you really going to just do whatever El Dorado says for the rest of your life?” Zanark continued on. 

Gamma shook his head. “You wouldn’t ever understand.” He muttered.

“I know that you’re not supposed to go to those clubs.” Zanark looked at him with a grin. “Those old guys don’t like when you do, do they? You don’t listen to everything El Dorado says already.”

Gamma shrugged. He hated that he knew so much about him.

Zanark continued, changing the subject a bit. “Well, you’re a good dancer. Did you take dance classes?”

“El Dorado made us take dance for a few years to improve our body balance.” He explained. “And they wanted us to have a well-rounded education.” 

“Are you going to go to University?” 

Gamma looked at him confused. Was he reading his mind? How did he know that he had been thinking about these things recently? “A-ah, I don’t know.” He stuttered out, still shocked that he would ask him that. “I was considering it.”

“You should, seriously.” Zanark looked genuine when he said that. “I’m sure that ‘well-rounded education’ isn’t all there is to learn.” 

Gamma took offense to that. He had no idea how often he studied, how much he studied on top of a full time job. He narrowed his eyes staring into the night sky. “I have a good education.” He stated, with poison in his voice.

“And you should be proud of that. I’m just saying you should take the opportunity to further that education. Most Second Stage Children don’t have that opportunity.” 

Again, Gamma remembered why he was there. Maybe he actually was a part of an anti-El Dorado group, and that’s why he was saying all of this. He took note of all these words.

“You should also audition at my theater some time.” Zanark grinned at him. “You’re really talented.” 

Gamma looked over at his smile, wondering if he was serious. That smug grin on his face did seem...softer? More genuine? Maybe he truly meant it. Maybe this wasn’t a big conspiracy. His mind raced back and forth between both of those ideas now. What was up with Zanark?

“Thanks.” The agent muttered.

“You don’t believe me.” Zanark stated as if he was reading his mind yet again. He chuckled. “You don’t have to, but I truly do think there’s more to you than what you show the world.”

Gamma had never been told that before. He always came off as overly confident on purpose. If he showed what he had to offer with assertive dominance, then others believed it too. But no one had ever said that there was more to him than what he showed, because he tried to keep most of his real self locked away or for his close friends.

“I’d like to get to know that Gamma.” Zanark smiled at him. “His ideals, his hobbies, his dreams. I want you to open up a bit more.”

Gamma stared at the man in front of him now. He almost fell for these sweet words, but he let himself come back to reality. “What happened to you?” He asked in a confused tone. 

Zanark laughed at his words. “I told you, I grew. Matured, even.” He waved a hand nonchalantly. “Like all of us. Including you.”

Gamma blushed a bit at the implication that this man noticed his growth or change, but he knew it was probably all superficial. He didn’t know him. “Whatever.”

“You’ve always piqued my interest.” Zanark admitted. “Why else do you think I’m bugging you?” 

Again, Zanark was stroking Gamma’s ego. He liked knowing that someone thought he was interesting, even if it was Zanark. He liked attention, at the heart of it. He decided he would push it further. “Why, then, have I piqued your interest?” He asked curiously.

“Well, would it be shallow of me to say it’s because you’re handsome?” Zanark said without missing a beat.

Gamma blushed. His whole face got hot, not expecting such a reaction. Sure, people have told him he was good looking before--as far as he was concerned he was the best looking member of Protocol Omega--but he never would have expected this guy to say such a thing.

“I-I guess that’s not shallow.” Gamma tried to remain confident, but his stuttering outed his surprise. “I get that a lot, anyways.” He threw in a conceited remark to keep his image up.

Zanark raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m sure you do.” He said in a smooth tone.

Gamma wasn’t sure why he was blushing. He felt so out of control of the situation at that moment. Something was off...he was starting to find Zanark...attractive?

No, he needed to backtrack that thought quickly.

“So if you were to go to university, what would you want to study?” Zanark asked Gamma, changing the subject as he knew he was slightly uncomfortable now.

Gamma appreciated the change of topic. “I don’t know.” He lied. He didn’t want to say dance or performance arts. He didn’t want to be lumped in with Zanark. 

“You should study dance.” 

Goddamn, he read his mind again. 

“But I’m a little biased.” Zanark shrugged. “But you do have the energy like you would thrive in that environment. The stage makes you glow.”

Gamma knew he was playing into his love for attention, but he loved the attention too much that it clouded his judgement. “You think so?”

“Totally.” Zanark nodded. “I saw it first hand today.”

“I’ll be honest, I was truly thinking about going back to dance.” He felt himself slipping out of his overly-confident professional bubble and into his simply conceited one. He wanted this validation. “I just have so much work with my job that I don’t know if it would be a good idea.”

Zanark smiled wider as the other opened up to him more. “I think it would be a great idea. Really.” He said to him. “You can control your future, just remember that.”

Gamma felt himself questioning that fact. Questioning his decisions and where he could be in the future. He loved performing, and he loved being the center of attention, it would really be a good career move for him if he honed in on that. But he had a career with El Dorado. Was that the end all for him?

Zanark looked at him curiously and then back out to the city. “I told you this is a great spot to think.”

Gamma nodded in agreement. He had certainly been thinking. “It’s so quiet here.” He muttered.

They sat in silence for a bit before Zanark moved a bit closer to Gamma, just scooting over by a few inches. He looked at him and smiled. “You’re really interesting to me.” He muttered.

Gamma blushed again as he realized he was closer, but he tried to play it off cool. “Thanks.” He said confidently, through his bright red face.

Zanark smiled wider and leaned into him closer. “You’re also very handsome.” He complimented once more. 

Gamma didn’t move as he leaned closer. He glanced down at his lips subconsciously and then back to his eyes. His gaze was alluring. “Thanks…” his confidence was taken over by his embarrassment of the situation. His heart raced when he realized how close he was to him. Why did he want to kiss him?

And of course, without thinking, the urge overtook as Zanark leaned closer, Gamma did the same. They caught each other at the mouth, kissing chastely but tenderly under the night sky. In their isolation it felt warm and natural, despite what they had both encountered in the past.

Gamma had never kissed anyone beyond friendly kisses on the hand or cheek, so this was all so new to him. He felt his body and his mind was on fire as he let himself be vulnerable to this attractive man in front of him. 

One chaste kiss, turned into a few more, without fully pulling away. And soon they were connected by the lips unable to stop. It took a few minutes but eventually they pulled away so they could both catch their breath.

Gamma was bright red as he spoke in a hushed tone. “I have to get back to El Dorado.” He whispered only a few inches away from his lips. 

Zanark nodded and instead of saying anything, he leaned over to kiss him again.

They were lost like that for a bit before Gamma placed his hands on Zanark’s chest to push him away. “I-I really have to get back to El Dorado.” He repeated with a stutter this time. He remembered that he was making out with someone who was possibly a criminal still, and he knew that he couldn’t fall for this.

A disappointed expression donned on Zanark’s face, but he agreed knowing that he couldn’t keep him there all night, no matter how much he wanted to.

He took Gamma back to the facility as quickly as he could but Zanark grabbed his arm before he fully hopped off the bike.

“Will you go out with me again?” He asked sincerely.

Gamma paused looking at the building he was supposed to enter, and then back at the boy he just made out with under the stars. It was all so romantic and so warm, but he knew he couldn’t be around him. He knew that there was something else going on. Why else would El Dorado react like that. 

“I-I don’t know…” He finally muttered. “El Dorado wouldn’t wa--”

“Forget what they say.” Zanark dropped his arm now, realizing he was still holding it. “What do you want?”

Uncharacteristically, Gamma bit his lip as he thought about it. What did he want? It seemed to align with what El Dorado didn’t want, whatever it was. He knew he wanted to kiss Zanark more, and he hated that.

“Okay,” He finally muttered and nodded. “But you can’t tell anyone. Is that clear?”

Zanark smiled at his answer and conditions. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow night, then.” 

“Wha--wait I have work--” Before he could even finish his sentence, Zanark and his hoverbike were gone.

He huffed a moment as he turned back around and snuck back into the facility. As he got back to his room, he laid in bed and placed his head in the pillow. He was so embarrassed about everything that just happened, but he also was very excited. He had never been on a date before and it seemed to go well.

But he couldn’t get attached. There was a chance Zanark was going to end up right back in prison. 

But the kissing was so nice...and he would get to do more of it tomorrow…

He knew he had to sleep because he had to be up early, so he got ready for bed instead of dwelling on it all. Perhaps he needed to work on what he wanted, rather than what El Dorado wanted. Perhaps Zanark was right.


	5. The Dates

However, by the next day Gamma was reminded what he was doing in the first place. It was his own reconnaissance mission and he couldn’t forget that. He wasn’t doing what El Dorado wanted, but he was doing what was good for him.

He did his best to push the memories of the kissing out of his mind as he worked throughout the day. 

“Did you figure anything out about the mission?” Beta asked Gamma as they crossed paths in the hallway. 

Gamma stopped and shook his head at her. “I haven’t found anything. Have you?” He still didn’t want to tell her about how he had a date with Zanark the night before, and possibly another one still.

“No, not beyond how touchy the chairman has been lately.” Beta shrugged. “I don’t think Alpha’s noticed anything either.”

Gamma gave a bit of a chuckle. “He probably doesn’t notice anything beyond Einamu.” 

The two both laughed at the expense of Alpha’s crush but decided to part ways as neither of them had any answers. 

At least, not any that anyone wanted to share.

\--

By nightfall, Gamma debated on disappearing so he wouldn’t be forced to go on his date. He knew that it would be dangerous for him to go and get hypnotized by kind words again. He didn’t need that.

But the curiosity got the better of him and he looked out the window before studying. Zanark was there waiting for him on his hoverbike outside of the premises.

Against his better judgement, he threw on a very nice jumper and snuck out of the building again, walking out to Zanark, hastily.

“Hey, it’s about time--”

“They can’t see that I’m leaving with you.” Gamma interrupted him and looked around to make sure no one was watching as he jumped onto the bike. 

Zanark laughed a bit and started up the machine, letting it drive them away without a word against it.

"I thought you'd say that."

Gamma snaked his arms around his middle to steady himself, still looking around as they left. He really hoped no one saw him, but of course one could never be sure. 

They ended up driving for a bit before they were back at the spot they were the night before. Zanark stopped the bike when they got there.

“Mm, you lost some points for creativity.” Gamma joked as he eyed the same spot they sat.

However, it was different. There was a blanket laid out on the floor with a basket and more blankets folded next to them.

“Eh,” Zanark muttered as he hopped off the bike with him. “I thought you could use some more thinking, but this time more cozy. Besides you said no one could know. No one but you and I know about this place.” 

By just the light of the moon and the city below, they both sat on the blanket, drinking tea and eating chocolates that Zanark had brought. Gamma had again forgotten that he was on his own mission and fell into the conversations they had about theater, life, soccer, everything. He was so enthralled, he didn’t realize that he shivered as they spoke.

“Are you cold?” Zanark asked and grabbed the folded blanket next to him. He started opening it and patted on the spot near him. “Come sit over here, you can share this with me.”

Gamma paused a moment realizing that getting too close to him would result in what happened the night before, but he kind of wanted that now. He placed the mission he had on the backburner on the pretense that he would work on it later. This was him just having some fun until then.

He moved closer to him, sitting so that they were pressed against each other, as Zanark threw the blanket over their shoulders. Gamma took his end of the blanket and wrapped it around himself as he realized the other still kept his arm around him. 

It really was quite cozy. 

“I’ll let you do this once.” Gamma muttered as he leaned into the arm wrapped around him. 

Zanark chuckled again. “Sure.” He said, not believing that at all.

Gamma looked up at him from his position leaning into him and felt enthralled to kiss him again. He let himself indulge again and kissed his lips again, almost the same way he did the night before, chastely and tenderly. 

But by the end of the night, their finished tea cups had been discarded and they were both lying on the blanket, locked at the lips and kissing under the stars. Gamma revelled in the feeling of Zanark’s arms around his waist, as his own hands gripped the other’s shoulders. 

Who would have thought making out on a blanket on the dirt floor could be so fun?

But before he got too lost, he pulled away from their kissing. “I have to get back home.” He checked his watch to see that it was nearing midnight again. He had to stop going out this late.

Zanark looked at him with a nod and a bit of a disappointed sigh. “Yeah, okay.” He reluctantly agreed. “I’ll take you back.”

“Uhm...this was really nice.” Gamma muttered as he continued to stay in his arms. He didn’t really want to leave. 

Zanark raised an eyebrow and smirked. “I thought I ‘lost points’ for creativity?” He joked about his initial statement.

Gamma frowned, his face bright red. “Do you want me to change my mind?”

Zanark just laughed.

Gamma wiggled his way out of his arms and sat up on the blanket. “Take me home then.” He ordered and bit his lip as he just put together the pieces of what he did again. Just like the night before, he was in a compromising spot with a man who might be a criminal. This wasn’t good.

“Alright, alright fine.” Zanark stood up, leaving the supplies in their spot where they were and held his hand out to help Gamma up. Gamma took his hand and stood up, letting him walk him to his bike.

Zanark took him back to El Dorado and grabbed his arm after he jumped off the bike again. Before Gamma could tell him he wasn’t sure if he could see him again, he was cut off by lips against his in a passionate embrace.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Zanark promised as he pulled away.

Gamma blushed but nodded, still close to his lips as he did. He then realized what had just happened and they were just a street away from the building. He quickly pulled away and turned around, running back to El Dorado, hoping no one saw.

He got back up to his room with a reluctant smile on his face.

“He’s so stupid…” Gamma muttered to himself with a grin as he thought about their date.

\--

Days went on, and they went on just like this. Gamma had all but nearly forgotten about his reconnaissance mission that he had staged himself in order to get information for El Dorado. His mind was clouded by now starry nights and kissing on the cliff’s edge of the city. His mind was clouded by a boy.

They talked regularly about the future now. Zanark was adamant about getting Gamma to take the opportunity to pursue university and Gamma was now on the road to consider it. He wanted to be in charge of his future.

But the one thing that stopped him, was remembering his mission he created for himself. If it wasn’t for Beta, he could have forgotten about it.

“Hey, guess what I found.” Beta whispered in a hall as she nudged Gamma in the shoulder. She kept her voice down in case anyone was listening. Gamma looked at her suspiciously, as she carried on. “I went to that club that you went to, and I talked to the owners.”

Gamma shook his head. “So?” 

“So the owners are former second stage children, Vanfeny Vamp and Garsha Wolfein.” She explained. “And according to them, members of Zanark Domain meet there for undisclosed reasons. They don’t even know what they talk about.” 

The name of the boy he was seeing made his heart drop when he heard that. “Wh--really?” He stuttered as he tried to figure out what to say. “Is Zanark there?”

“Yeah, it’s Zanark Domain.” Beta mumbled back to him. “Figures he’s up to something as he shows up out of the blue and joins Feida again.” 

“Does the Chairman know?” Gamma wasn’t even sure why he was asking this, it’s not as if it changed his situation.

Beta looked at him incredulously. “I assume so, why else would he send you there?” She opened her hands in disbelief at him. “I didn’t think you’d be so dense about this Gamma.”

Gamma grimaced at her in his typical fashion. At least she hadn’t caught on that he was having an illicit relationship with Zanark. “Well, that’s certainly suspicious.” He said with little emotion.

But inside he was questioning what he knew. He had spent the last week, more than that by now, going out at night to see Zanark. He had been kissing him, falling under his spell of sweet words. That’s all it was, right? That’s what all of this meant. It was a front so him and his buddies could meet without being suspected.

Or at least that’s what Gamma hoped wasn’t what was happening.

And with that, Gamma felt his communicator beep.

“Gamma. Report to my office immediately.” The communicator rang with the Chairman’s voice.

Gamma glanced at Beta who looked at him just as confused. 

“Yes, Master.” He complied. Why would he need him? He had to go into work right then before he was summoned. The Chairman’s orders are always first, though.

“Tell me what he says.” Beta smiled and turned around to leave down the hall. 

There was a sense of dread when Gamma realized that he could have been called in for any reason. Him and Beta conspiring in the halls was only one reason, but his affair with Zanark was the bigger issue.

He teleported his way into the Chairman’s office and saw the man’s determined expression sitting at his desk, staring at his temporal agent.

“You wished to see me, Master?” Gamma was the first to break the silence as he wanted to play it off like nothing was wrong.

The Chairman had his hands folded in front of his face, elbows rested on his table before he let out a hum. “Yes.” He dropped his hand after beckoning him over. “Come here.”

The agent hesitantly took a couple of steps so he was closer to the desk and stopped a foot away. 

“Tell me, Gamma.” Toudou began with a light tone in his voice. He raised an eyebrow at him as he spoke. “Where have you been going after work these past few nights?”

Gamma panicked internally, but kept his cool on the outside. He was pretty good at lying. “Oh, just to get some fresh air.” He lifted a hand nonchalantly. “You know how stuffy it can get in here.”

“Was there any reason you went to get fresh air with Zanark Avalonic then?”

Gamma’s heart skipped a beat when he heard that, and his confident smile faded. “What are you talking about?” He continued his lie, even though he knew it was fruitless. If the Chairman knew about it, then there was no getting around it.

With a wave of the hand, the Chairman brought up a holographic screen with an image of Zanark and Gamma standing outside of the facility in front of his hoverbike.

“Oh, that.” Gamma tried again. “Well, he’s just obsessed with me, he wouldn’t leave me alone until I talked with him. It happens when you’re popular.”

Another wave of the hand from the Chairman and a picture of him hopping on his hoverbike with him popped up. A different night, as both of them had changed outfits.

“He wouldn’t leave me alone until I agreed to go with him to a rehearsal, it was just for a bit. No big deal.”

A few more pictures like that popped up, where they were on the bike from different days. “Is that why you went with him multiple times?” Toudou asked.

“Just a couple of rehearsals.” He tried to salvage this lie. He brought up another confident smile. “I’m an advocate of the arts, you know that, Chairman.” 

“I certainly do.” Toudou kept his eyes on the time agent in front of him and waved his hand again bringing up yet another picture, the last one. Zanark and Gamma stopped in front of the hoverbike in a lovers embrace of a passionate kiss.

Gamma’s eyes widened when he saw the picture. There was no getting out of this one. “Ah…” He let out as if he was admitting defeat on his lie. 

“You’re going to need to work on your acting skills, given you’re such an ‘advocate of the arts’.” Toudou waved the photo away now and gave him a stern look. “Do you understand why you are in trouble, Gamma?”

Gamma glanced down in shame, unable to keep eye contact with his employer. “Yes.” He answered in a defeated tone.

“This man is a criminal.” Toudou scolded. “He helped us in the past, that’s true, but I have reason to believe that he and his friends are part of that anti-government organization I had you research for a while back.”

Oh no, that’s exactly what Gamma didn’t want to hear. He looked up now to finally see his serious expression. “Why did you pull us out of that mission then?” 

“We were contacted by Zanark Domain during that mission and threatened, so we pulled you out for your safety.” 

Gamma looked down again but back up when the pieces fit in his head. “But it couldn’t have been Zanark--he was with me the whole--”

“He was a decoy.” The Chairman interrupted. “So they could hack into our mainframe without us noticing.”

Gamma’s chest tightened when he heard that. He felt a physical pain as his heart broke. The boy he spent time with under the stars, who he told his life plan to, who he kissed so tenderly was actually just using him to break into his workplace. 

He looked at the floor breathing heavier than he would like others to see. He couldn’t lose his cool. Not now.

“I see…” He finally muttered. 

Toudou stared at his agent now, knowing that it would take a little bit more sympathy to get him to continue on. “I’m sorry it turned out this way, but it’s for the best I tell you now before you get attached.” He finally answered.

“Yes, Master.” Gamma kept his gaze on the floor in a disappointed manner. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, yet it all made sense. He knew it had to be true. 

“I trust you’ll do the right thing then.” 

Gamma’s eyes finally moved back up to his employer. “Excuse me?” He asked curiously.

“I trust you’ll help us arrest him.” Toudou clarified. “Compress him until we can put him in Mugen Prison.” 

With all the regret in his heart for what he had fallen for, Gamma nodded. In a moment of bitterness at the idea that the boy he was falling in love with was just using him, he gave a look of determination.

“Smart.”

\--

Gamma had no time to grieve the loss of his first relationship. He went into his work, fixing time anomalies and bossing around his teammates, to distract himself from the pain he was in.

But every now and then the thought of the kisses they shared crept back into his mind, and he would feel a tightness in his throat. It was almost as if he wanted to cry.

He couldn’t cry. He hadn’t cried since he was a little kid anyways. He had no need.

When work was over, he didn’t even attempt to see Zanark. He went back to his room and tried to study. He just stared at his books, but it was better than nothing.

Gamma knew he should go find him. If he found him, caught him off-guard, it would be easy to trap him and take him to his superiors. It would be so fun to see his stupid face shocked by his quick reflexes. Him being the one in charge now.

But he really didn’t want to see him.

He was lost in his thoughts when he heard a rustle from his window. With the instinct of an elite temporal agent, Gamma stood up from his chair and reached for his Sphere Device, but he stopped at the sight.

Zanark was sitting at his window sill. “I know, it’s bad manners.” He gestured to himself coming in through the window unannounced.

Gamma stared at him a moment before shaking his head. “Get out.” He wasn’t sure why he said it and didn’t activate his device instead. He just held the piece of technology in his hand.

With a confused chuckle, Zanark flung his other foot into the room. “You don’t mean that.” He said nonchalantly. 

“I do.” Gamma replied sternly. “Get out, or else.” 

Zanark was rightfully perplexed by the reaction of the boy he had been dating and thought he must have been joking around. “Okay, try me.” He muttered as he stood in his room now.

Gamma’s hand was on the purple button on the sphere device and as he was about to press it, Zanark lunged forward and kicked the ball square out of his hands and into the wall.

“Damn it--!” Gamma yelled. He wouldn’t ever let himself be so off of his game, but this man did something to him.

“What are you doing!?” Zanark grabbed onto Gamma’s arm now, trying to stop him from going anywhere or doing any more to him. He realized he was trying to compress his energy into that sphere and send him to El Dorado, but he wanted to know why.

Gamma struggled to get out of his grasp, but it was to no avail. Zanark was stronger than him. “Get off of me!” He yelled. “I know what you are! I know you’re a criminal!”

Zanark stared at him confused and kept holding onto him. “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t want to see you anymore!” Gamma pulled his arm back quickly, finally breaking out of his grasp. “I’m breaking up with you!”

Letting go of the other, Zanark stared at him stunned. “You’re breaking up with me?” He asked in a calm voice.

“Yes!” A prickle of tears burned the corners of Gamma’s eyes as he spoke. No he wouldn’t cry. He wasn’t allowed to, and he didn’t cry. But why did this hurt so bad? 

“But I love you.”

It was the first time Zanark had said it, but he said it sincerely. There was no smug smile on his face, no bitter grimace, just concerned arched brows and a genuine tone.

Gamma took a step back and shook his head. “N-no you don’t.” The words came out stuttered and hurt. 

“Yes, I do. I love you.” Zanark took a few steps closer to him now. He narrowed his eyes at him as if he was trying to read why he was acting like this.

Gamma took a few steps backward. “You don’t.” He insisted. He wanted to be more articulate, but his whole body was shaking from rage at the deceit. He couldn’t make himself.

Another few steps forward, and another step back, Gamma fell into the wall behind him and Zanark pinned him against it. He leaned down and kissed his lips passionately, as he held the other’s wrist against the cold material of the wall.

The kiss felt warm and comfortable, even familiar. Gamma wanted this to be the reality, but he knew it wasn’t. He felt those tears he tried to think away well up and fall down his face now. He used his other arm that wasn’t pinned to the wall to push Zanark away from the kiss.

“Stop!” He ordered.

Zanark looked at him confused, but kept him up against the wall. “Why don’t you believe me?” He asked, confounded by his response.

Gamma clenched his teeth trying to think of how to get away but giving up. He used one hand to wipe the stray tears away. He couldn’t be seen crying. “El Dorado told me what you’re up to.” He finally told him.

Zanark looked incredulously. “Oh yeah?” He muttered as he shifted his weight to keep closer to the boy he loved. “What did they say exactly?”

“They said you and your cronies are a part of some anti-El Dorado scheme to hack into their mainframe computer and steal files.” 

There was a pause and then a hearty, spontaneous laugh came from Zanark’s mouth.

“They think I’m going to hack into their files? What for?” He asked curiously with a smile on his face now.

Gamma struggled to get his arm back from the other, but then gave up when Zanark wasn’t letting go.

“I don’t know. They say you’re mad at them for the way they treat people with the SSC gene.” He informed him.

“I am mad at them.” Zanark nodded as he spoke. “They’re right about that. But I’m not breaking into their files for any reason.” 

Gamma’s glare darkened. “I don’t believe you.” 

Zanark lowered his head, looking his companion in the eyes. “Why would I steal from the people who gave me my life back? What would I have to gain from taking their files when they pardoned me from my crime and gave me money so I can carry on my family’s legacy?” 

They stared at each other for a moment after Zanark spoke. Gamma had to admit, he had a point. The way he looked at him with such a serious and genuine expression, he started to believe him. He knew he was an actor, he knew he knew how to lie, but something still wasn’t adding up.

“If that’s true then why does Zanark Domain meet at the club in secret?”

Zanark’s face changed into a blank expression. “What?”

Gamma stared at him. “You heard me. Answer me.”

Two blinks and Zanark let go of Gamma’s arm. “I don’t have an answer for you.” He finally admitted. “But I’m not lying to you. I love you.”

Gamma felt a lump in his throat come up as a small sob, but he stifled it down. He hated crying. He hated hearing that this boy loved him. He shook his head as he rubbed his sore wrist.

Zanark turned around now and waved a hand. “I’ll get to the bottom of this.” He said towards the window and started climbing out of it.

“Wait--”

And with that, Zanark was gone. Gamma rubbed his eyes of the tears for only a second and he looked back up and he wasn’t there. He had hopped onto his hoverbike and teleported away. 

Gamma breathed heavy, trying not to let everything get to him. But he couldn’t study. He closed his books and lied down in bed instead of doing his work. This weird mix of betrayal and hope that he wasn’t who El Dorado said he was conflicted in his mind and only made him hurt more.

He lay in bed, but he couldn’t sleep. He was so out of sorts, he didn’t even realize that his Sphere Device was missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I thought I broke this up into 5 chapters, but it turns out it's 6!!! So the last chapter will be out tomorrow instead of today. Sorry fam!!!


	6. The Interrogations

“So what did the chairman say?” 

Beta cornered Gamma in the hall. The next day proved to be beneficial for Gamma’s well being, as he was able to forget about Zanark until then. He reluctantly decided he’d tell her part of the truth.

“Well, he said that Zanark might have been part of the anti-government group.” He explained. “I guess he finally decided to let one of us know.” 

Beta narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why would he only tell you, when all of us were on the mission?” She questioned. 

Gamma knew he would have to lie further about this. “He also wanted to scold me for going out on a school night.” He gave a light shrug, as he knew they had both been reprimanded for doing things they shouldn’t have. He hoped she would find it relatable. 

She did and she laughed. “Gamma, that’s what happens when you’re bad.” Beta said in a sing song voice, almost forgetting that they had a rivalry of who had the information.

Gamma sneered at her a second and turned his shoulder. “Whatever, I have stuff to do.” He gave a wave of his hand and started walking. “I’ll tell you if I find anything more.”

“Don’t get into any more trouble!” She said back as he left.

With that, Gamma knew he would probably get into more trouble. He ended up going back to his room and he grabbed his communicator. With a press of a button he was able to get a hold of Fei, someone who had been around Zanark more often than him.

“Gamma!” Fei’s voice said over the communicator when he answered. “Why are you calling me?”

“Well, I have a few questions.” Gamma started and looked around for his Sphere Device. Where was it?

“Sure, what’s going on?” Fei’s upbeat voice asked.

Gamma stood up and walked to his closet. Was it in there? “Ah…” He realized he was being distracted by that task instead of his questions. “Ah, sorry, uhm, I was wondering if you knew anything about Zanark and that club we went to.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Does he have any direct contact with the owners? Is he part of a group or something?”

“Uh...not that I know of.” Fei’s voice kind of trailed off before he spoke again. “You could ask Vanfeny and Garsha. They own the club.”

“...they do?” Gamma moved from his closet to his desk drawer. Did he put his Sphere Device there? It didn’t seem to be.

“Yeah, you didn’t know that? That’s why a bunch of old friends are always there.”

Wait--Beta had told him that. Gamma was so distracted he had forgotten. Also he admittedly never looked to see who owned the clubs he was going to, as he was more interested in just having fun first. Perhaps he should have known before, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to admit that either.

“Whatever.” Gamma muttered to take that information off of him. “Well, I suppose I’ll go talk to them.”

“Is this Protocol Omega work?” Fei had to ask. 

Gamma kept looking around his room for his Sphere Device, getting increasingly frustrated when he couldn’t find it. “Yes.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. “Kind of, it’s complicated, so don’t mention it to anyone.”

“O-oh okay.” Fei’s voice trailed off again. “Is Zanark in trouble?”

Gamma paused when he realized he didn’t know what to say. He was going to say yes, but part of him didn’t want to. Part of him really was hoping that Zanark was somehow innocent. He remembered their intimate moments again and he had to shake it out of his mind.

“I gotta go.” Gamma didn’t answer him instead. “Don’t worry about it, and don’t tell anyone.” 

“O-okay. I’ll talk to you later!”

“Bye, Fei.” 

He hung up and decided that finding his Sphere Device right now would be pointless. Maybe he left it in the practice room.

But then again, the last place he remembered seeing it was when he kicked it to Zanark. It should be in his room…

Unless Zanark took it.

Sudden panic, looking all over the floor and under furniture, was quickly washed away by rage. Zanark took his Sphere Device! He was so stupid as to let Zanark have access to El Dorado’s temporal agent technology. Not smart.

He shook his head and realized he definitely wouldn’t be keeping what Beta said to him. He’d be in big trouble if the heads at El Dorado found out.

Gamma knew he had to find Zanark. He wouldn’t have his technology but he did have the skills of a time agent. He was strong, balanced and best of all, smart. He’d figure this out.

Clad in his uniform still, he quickly left the facility with the pretense that he was just going out to survey around. He had time off, so El Dorado wouldn’t need to question him too much anyways. They let their employees roam around when they weren’t working or doing school, but most of them spent their time studying.

Gamma would rather be studying at this point, but he needed to figure out what was going on. He needed to find his Sphere Device, and he needed to arrest Zanark. Well, if that was necessary, that is.

It was still in the middle of the day and he knew the part of town that the club was in would be mostly empty. No one came there in the middle of the day. It was known for its nightlife only.

Regardless, he ended up at the club, knocking on the door wondering if this would get him anywhere.

After a second of no movement, Gamma reached to the sensor on the door, wondering if he could open it. It didn’t read him at all. 

But as he took his hand back, the door opened to a disheveled looking man, with pink hair everywhere. He had a grin on his face when he saw his guest.

“Gamma, huh?” He asked like he was making sure. Everyone knew who Protocol Omega was. 

And Gamma knew he was too, thanks to Beta’s detective work. “Garsha Wolfein.” He said back. He had only known who he was through other former second stage children. As far as he was concerned, he and Vanfeny never got their vaccines. “Protocol Omega has business with this club.”

Garsha’s grin widened. “Oh?” He asked curiously, and stepped to the side. “Then by all means, do come in.”

It was too easy, and Gamma was weary without his Sphere Device, but he knew that he needed to get to the bottom of all of this. He stepped in, keeping his guard up.

“What does El Dorado have to do with us this time?” 

The voice came from a dark corner of the room, away from the door. The pale-faced pretty boy that was Vanfeny stood ominously staring at his partner and the government employee.

Gamma was shocked for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. He wished his night vision was better, but it was unfortunately one of the drawbacks of his genetic makeup. His light eyes made it difficult.

“Ah, Vanfeny Vamp as well.” Gamma muttered when he saw them, trying to maintain his composure when Garsha closed the door behind them. “El Dorado doesn’t have business, Protocol Omega does.”

“Oh, and there’s a difference?” Vanfeny waited until the door closed before taking a step to the two. “Pardon my standoffish nature, I have migraine disorder and I cannot be in the sunlight for too long.”

Gamma had had a number of sun induced headaches before, so he nodded in response. “That’s understandable. But I heard Beta had come around to ask you a few questions.”

“Oh yeah,” Garsha looked at Vanfeny and then back at their guest. “About those guys from Zanark Domain.”

“Ah, yes, her.” Vanfeny twirled his hair between his fingers as he thought. “She said there was something going on with Zanark, is that the case?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Gamma muttered, trying to maintain an air of superiority. “Do you have any idea of Zanark being involved in any criminal activities?” 

“We aren’t snitches.” Garsha’s smile faded as he spoke, he let his voice get more aggressive. “If we did know, we wouldn’t tell you.”

“Calm yourself, Garsha.” Vanfeny lifted his hand nonchalantly. “We know Zanark isn’t a part of any criminal activities anyways. He’s too busy with his theater. He’s helping people, you know, as much as I detest him. He’s doing good for the community of lost second stage children.”

Gamma stared at the pretty man in front of him, unsure of what to believe. He knew Zanark was doing good with his theater, but why the sudden change in tune? “You’re telling me Zanark isn’t a part of any anti-government plans?”

“I don’t know about any anti-government plans.” Vanfeny explains. “We rent out our space in the day for people to have meeting places. And I’ll say the same thing I said to Beta; we have seen former members of Zanark Domain, but Zanark has never been a part of it.”

There was a pang of confusion, heartache, and excitement in his chest as he heard that fact. The idea that Zanark, his first romantic relationship, might not have been involved in all the bad things El Dorado thought made his mind fill with new ideas of hope. He was supposed to remain unbiased with all of his missions, but it was so impossible to do for this one. He hated how much he wanted Zanark to be innocent in all of this.

“You’re telling me, you told Beta, that Zanark was never a part of the meetings?”

Garsha crossed his arms. “I’ve never seen Zanark at their meetups.” He looked back at Vanfeny. “But should we be selling out those other guys?” 

Vanfeny gave a shrug. “Who cares?” He said nonchalantly. “Those members have been nothing but a pain.”

Garsha shrugged. “I suppose so.” 

“Besides they won’t be a problem for long.” Vanfeny grinned a second and looked at the door. “I think you should go Gamma.”

Gamma stared at him, wondering if he was being kicked out. He looked around, realizing they had given him all the information he was going to get out of them--and that either they or Beta lied to him. 

He hoped it was Beta.

Gamma stepped out of the door and before it was closed he heard Vanfeny’s last words to him.

“I hope you find your Sphere Device.”

Gamma had never mentioned that he had lost his technology to these two. How did they know about it? 

They weren’t telling him something.

\--

“Alpha, Beta, Gamma, come to the interrogation room, at once.” 

Gamma’s communicator went off as he stepped foot on El Dorado property again. He thought he was in trouble for a second when he realized that he probably wouldn’t have called the other two leaders in as well. 

The interrogation room? Where they took criminals to try to get information out of them? 

Gamma’s heart beat quicker than he wanted to admit, and he looked around. No one was out to see him look anxious, thankfully. He was so afraid of what he’d see in that room.

He used the teleporter to take him to the interrogation room and Alpha and Beta were already there, as were Toudou and Sakamaki. All were staring into the one-way glass.

“Good of you to join us, Gamma.” Toudou said before Gamma turned his vision to the glass as well.

His worst fear had come true. On the other side, Zanark was sitting at an empty desk, with his hands bound by a glowing tethering device that they used regularly for criminals. His face wasn’t that of a caught criminal but an annoyed bystander caught in a traffic jam at an accident. 

Gamma’s face must have given away his shock because Beta let out a taunt.

“I told you your boyfriend was involved.” She boasted in a singsong voice.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Gamma retorted and looked back at the two older men who were his superiors. “When did this happen?”

“I had Alpha and Beta apprehended him earlier.” Toudou explained.

Gamma looked at the two other leaders realizing that he wasn’t tasked with the same missions now as his counterparts. “I thought you had asked me to help you arrest him.” 

“We were worried you would be too close to this.” Sakamaki cut in for his boss, as he generally knew what to say to the time agents. He had worked as their coach for a while, and he knew how to handle them. “And we saw an opening to apprehend him and Alpha and Beta were free and you were not.”

So which was it, Gamma thought, was he busy or did they not want him in on this case? Either way, he gave a nonchalant shrug. 

“How does it feel to have your first boyfriend be a criminal?” Beta taunted.

Gamma wasn’t going to tolerate the embarrassing words in front of his superiors. “How does it feel to be so unloveable a criminal doesn’t even want you?” He was proud of his comeback, even though he knew that her Orca had a secret relationship going on. It was so obvious.

“No.” Alpha took a step in between Beta and Gamma as he watched Beta’s expression sour at Gamma’s return. “We have a job to do.”

“Please, it’s unsightly.” Sakamaki shook his head. “Teenagers…” He muttered under his breath.

Toudou shook his head. “Well, he needs interrogating, and he won’t talk to us.” He explained. “I’m hoping that one of you will be able to get him to talk.”

“Mm, should be Gamma.” Beta suggested. “Since they did unspeakable things together, I think it’s only fair he be the one to break him.”

Gamma gave a sarcastic look at his peer and then looked at his bosses again. “I have no emotional attachment, I’ll gladly interrogate him.” He made sure to make it look like he wasn’t worried. In reality, he was seething with anxiety and rage. He wanted to walk into that room and beat Zanark up, but he also wanted to cry. He was so upset. He wanted to know the truth.

“I was going to send Alpha in.” Toudou explained. “But if you think you can handle it, Gamma, then I’ll give you permission.”

“Smart.” Gamma smiled at his boss and turned to wave his hand in front of the door’s sensor to let him in. He let his smile fade beforehand, knowing that this was going to be a lot harder than he let on.

Immediately as the door opened, Zanark looked up and grinned at the temporal agent. “Hey, handsome.” He said nonchalantly as if they hadn’t had a fight a few nights before.

Gamma’s cheeks turned pink in front of his pale complexion and he grimaced at him. He couldn’t lose his cool in front of his superiors.

“What are you doing?” Gamma asked, irritated and anxious knowing that everyone was watching them. “I appreciate the compliments, but I’m not here to make nice with you.”

Zanark kept his smile that made Gamma want to punch him. “I didn’t do anything.” He tried with a nonchalant expression. “I was at rehearsal and your friends arrested me on baseless charges.”

“They’re not my friends.” He hoped Beta heard that. 

“That’s not the point here.” Zanark let his smile fade a bit. “They said I’m a part of some terrorist organization.”

“Yes, that’s the jist of all of this.” Gamma crossed his arms and leaned his hip against the table in a careless fashion. Shifting his weight so his foot could cross over his leg, he gave a look at the criminal in front of him. He had so many questions, and he wanted to know the truth so badly, but if he was going to maintain his cool, he couldn’t ask all at once.

Zanark’s smile was completely gone at this point, and his disposition changed to more annoyed than anything else. “Well, I’m not.” He told him.

Gamma kept leaning against the table. He was so angry that Zanark would just say that with nothing else. He clenched his jaw for a moment to think about what to say before going on. “Yeah, I don’t believe that.”

“Okay, why not?” Zanark asked, looking at him curiously.

Gamma gave an incredulous look. “Because we have evidence that you are part of an anti-government conspiracy. We know you’re plotting against El Dorado.”

“And how do you know that? Mm?” Zanark lifted his tethered hands for a moment only to drop them back on the table. “Tell me, where’s your evidence?”

In reality, Gamma didn’t have any. He had Vanfeny and Garsha’s testimony that Zanark Domain might have been involved in terrorist plots, but that Zanark wasn’t there. So it was basically everything that El Dorado didn’t believe so far. He stared into Zanark’s red eyes trying to think of the words to say, but nothing came out.

Zanark’s expression changed after a second, a more sympathetic one donned on his face, before his smirk came back. “You don’t have any evidence.”

Gamma grimaced again. “Shut up, you don’t know that.” He said in a much more sassy fashion than he should have while his superiors watched. “I was just pausing for dramatic effect.” He lied.

“I know you don’t have any evidence against me.” Zanark kept his grin on his face. “Do you want to know how I know?”

“No.” Gamma again lied.

“Because I didn’t do anything.” The performer chuckled. “That’s what I told those old guys out there, that’s what I told your friends--”

“They’re not my friends.”

“I’m innocent.” He stated sternly, letting his smile fade a bit again. “I’m not out to get El Dorado, just because I criticized them once or twice.” He looked at the one-way mirror in front of them and got louder. “Ya hear that old guys!? I’m innocent! I’m not out to get you!”

Gamma shook his head irritated and unfolded his arms so his hand could rest on the desk next to him. “Look,” He started and leaned down to get into Zanark’s face a bit more. “We have evidence of you and your little friends convening and making plans. That’s why I found you that night at the club, and that’s why I ended up going with you to your rehearsal.”

“Is that why you went out with me and made out with me nightly too?” Zanark asked with a grin again, knowing just what buttons to push on Gamma. “Do those old guys know about that?”

“Shut up.” Gamma was already bright pink and he knew Beta was probably laughing on the other side of that mirror. 

“Oo, so they didn’t? Or did they?” Zanark was going to try and push all the buttons he could. He looked back at the two-way mirror. “Hey just because I was making out with your Time Agent doesn’t mean I was plotting a terror attack--”

His words were stopped by Gamma’s open-handed hit across his shoulder. “Shut up! They’re not even out there!” He lied, hoping it would stop him from not talking to him. “And I told you we have evidence!”

“No you don’t. If you had evidence I wouldn’t be here getting questioned.” Zanark’s grin faded into a more irritated expression again. “Don’t you know I’ve done all this before. I was imprisoned before. I know how this stuff works, and I know you want me to incriminate myself so you can throw me back into Mugen.”

Gamma hated how smart Zanark was. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. I’m trying to find out why you lied to me all those nights, and what you have to gain from all of this.”

Zanark looked at Gamma again, his expression serious, yet somewhat incredulous at his accusation. “Do you really think I lied to you? Why would I lie when I tell you you were a good dancer, or that you should pursue your interests? Or that I found you attractive.” 

“Shut up…” Gamma knew that his complexion was no longer that of usual porcelain white and that he was definitely red from his cheeks to his ears right now. If they were actually alone this wouldn’t have been a problem, but the fact that El Dorado and Beta and Alpha were out there listening was enough to embarrass him. He realized he probably came off not looking very professional. 

“Because I wouldn’t.” Zanark continued on, letting the other know he would not be shutting up. “I genuinely like you, and I enjoyed the time we spent together. I know you did too.” 

Gamma rolled his eyes and shook his head, trying to come off as if those words didn’t affect him so much. He was so red.

“And I have evidence to prove the contrary to what you think.” Zanark continued on, his confident smirk coming back. “Let’s make a deal, shall we?”

Gamma looked at him for a second as if he was trying to read his expression. “Okay, fine, here’s a deal; If you tell me your evidence, I’ll let you go.”

Zanark shook his head. “Nah.” He denied nonchalantly. “You’re gonna have to either let me go, or throw me in Mugen for no reason. So, how about my offer.” 

Gamma shook his head and crossed his arms again. He was interested in what he had to say, but he didn’t want to come off as eager for his words. Instead of being greedy for his words, he shifted his weight from where he was standing and sat down on the top of the table in front of Zanark, his legs hanging over the side in a blase fashion. He placed his hands down behind him so he could slouch a bit. “I don’t think there’s anything you could say to help your case right now.” He looked up at the ceiling, in an uncaring manner.

“I'll give you the guys you’re actually looking for, if you promise to help the dancing parts for the show at my theater. We need a trainer since there’s only so many people with dance experience.”

Gamma’s head snapped back at him, absolutely furious by his insinuation. “There is no way I’m doing that! What guys--!? You’re the one in trouble here!”

“Yeah, but I have the evidence to get me out of this, and if you want it, you’ll have to agree to my offer.”

Gamma looked at him in disbelief. How could Zanark be so manipulative? “No! Definitely not!”

“I guess you’ll just have to throw me in prison then, and let the real terrorists get away.” Zanark gave a nonchalant half shrug as he spoke.

“Gamma--take his offer.” The voice from his communicator yelled in his ear.

Gamma was in a rage. He jumped off the table and took a step away from the interrogation, to press the button on his communicator. “Absolutely not, Chairman!”

“Oh, so they are listening?” Zanark grinned as he watched Gamma get up in huff.

“You are a temporal agent first, so you have to do your job. Take his offer, and if he has something to help us, then we’ll see what we can do.”

Gamma gave an irritated look at the floor and bit his lip in anger before speaking his last words. “Yes, master.” He muttered quietly and dropped his hand that was previously turning his communicator on.

He turned and looked at Zanark with a new kind of contempt. “If you have something good, I’ll help you and your stupid theater.” He finally agreed and shook his head. “If you don’t I’m throwing you in Mugen without a second thought.”

Zanark grinned and gave a chuckle as he heard his words. “I bet you’ve been looking for your Sphere Device, huh?” He asked him.

Gamma’s pale blue irises seemed to double in size when he said that. No. His initial thought was correct, and now his superiors would have to see that.

Zanark chuckled again. “I’ll admit, I stole it from you after I found out about my ex-friends having a group without inviting me.” He shrugged. “But I was going to return it today. After I had a word with those ‘friends’ of mine.” 

Squinting in rage, confusion, and all around disbelief, Gamma finally spoke. “What are you talking about?” He asked seriously.

“Reach into my left pocket, and you’ll see.” Zanark lifted his tethered hands. “I’d do it myself, but obviously, I can’t.” 

Gamma rolled his eyes and did as he asked. He leaned over the corner of the table to slink a slender wrist into the pocket of his pants, only to be met with a familiar feeling of the flattened Sphere Device. He pulled it out and quickly de-compressed it so it was into the shape of a ball. He looked in and saw compressed figures in the void that would have been Zanark, had Gamma done his job.

“I got the guys who were plotting anti-government movements to confess and I was going to turn them in after my rehearsal today.” Zanark explained. “You guys were almost right--they were members of my former clique, but we haven’t been on the same page since I started focusing on my parents’ theater. After you mentioned Zanark Domain to me, I knew something was up, so I figured it out. They were hacking into El Dorado and taking classified government information. So I got it all back, it’s all in that Sphere Device.”

Without another word, The door opened and Toudou walked into the room. “Give me the Sphere.”

Gamma did as he was told and handed it over. 

“You’ll see they’re all there Mr. Chairman.” Zanark muttered to him. “And then we can talk about me borrowing your Temporal Agent.” 

Toudou barely acknowledged he was talking and left the room with the Sphere Device, closing the door behind them.

Gamma stared at Zanark in complete disbelief. “Are you serious, right now?” He asked quietly.

“About what?”

“About all of this! Did you have this evidence from the beginning? Why didn’t you just hand it over to the Chairman!?”

“Because I wanted to tell you.” Zanark looked at him, with a serious expression now, there was no hint of mockery or confidence like he had had before. “You didn’t believe that I’d changed my destiny so I had to prove it to you, and only you. I don’t care what El Dorado thinks.”

Gamma makes an incredulous huff as he’s trying to process all of this. “Why?” He asks breathlessly.

“Because I’ve fallen in love with you.” Zanark said loud enough so he was sure the other’s outside could hear.

Gamma had turned a shade of red darker than he’d ever turned before and he shook his head. “You’re an idiot.” He muttered still breathlessly. 

“Gamma-chaaan~ we need to talk to you!” Beta’s voice over the loudspeaker in the room was mocking and annoying.

Gamma shook his head and turned around to the door. He placed his hand on the sensor of the door so he could leave and quickly close it.

The Chairman and Sakamaki immediately had their eyes on the Time Agent who had interrogated their suspect.

“It’s all here.” Toudou explained and shook his head, in just an incredulous manner. “The suspects, the stolen documents, even confessions and plans.”

“Zanark was telling the truth.” Sakamaki concluded.

Beta giggled. “You sure do know how to pick them, Gamma!” She pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You better keep him in line from now on!”

Gamma shook his head at her. “I’m not his keeper!” He retorted, still highly embarrassed.

“But you can keep an eye on him while you go to his rehearsals. We can see if he’s actually being truthful.” Alpha suggested and looked at his mentors for approval of his statements.

With a breathless, disbelieving huff, Gamma looked at his superiors. “You can’t be serious--I can’t go play theater with him--I’m a Time Agent!” He argued. 

“And you’re a Time Agent doing your job.” Toudou explained sternly. “I thought you liked dance, anyways.”

Gamma’s face was so hot from embarrassment and Beta’s giggling was not helping. “So, really want me to go and do all his rehearsals with him?” He asked, confused by this outcome.

“Alpha is right about keeping an eye on him.” Sakamaki agreed with his boss on the matter as well. He looked at the Chairman. “If anyone’s going to be able to keep an eye on him and anyone else who could be in a precarious situation, it would be Gamma who has an ‘in’ already.”

Gamma knew the “in” that Sakamaki spoke of was Zanark’s confession of love and he subconsciously placed his head in his hands. “Oh my god…” He whispered as Beta giggled uncontrollably at the situation.

“Gamma, go release him. Tell him you’ll keep your end of the deal.” Toudou instructed.

Gamma dropped his hands and tried to maintain a stern composure. “Yes, master.” He agreed and quickly flew his hand over the sensor.

Zanark grinned when he saw Gamma’s bright red expression. “How’d it go?” He asked him.

Waving his hand to close the door behind him, Gamma walked over to the table and shook his head. “How do you think?” He asked quietly and grabbed Zanark’s arms. With a touch of a button, the tethering device unlocked and compressed, leaving Zanark’s hands free.

Zanark rubbed his wrists for a second before standing up in front of Gamma. He took a step closer to him, so that they were mere inches away from each other.

“Do you believe me now?” Zanark asked him quietly, with a grin.

Gamma stared at him with a mixture of contempt, excitement and rage all at once. He wanted to punch him but he also wanted to hug him.

Instead, he opted to lean over and plant a passionate, and yet chaste kiss on his lips. He wouldn’t have done it if he wasn’t so happy that everything he had learned about Zanark ended up being true. His words, his feelings, his kisses, they were all true.

He pulled away from the kiss and stared at him. “You’re an idiot.” Was all he could say as he threw arms around him in a warm embrace of relief. 

Zanark hugged him back, breathing him in and sighing happily as he did so. “You’re really handsome when you’re angry.” 

“Shut up.” Gamma muttered in his chest.

“Well, you better get ready for rehearsal, Trainer.”

“Shut up.” He repeated and didn’t let go. 

“Then we can have a date after.”

“Shut up!” Gamma hid his face in the crook of his neck now, embarrassed that his superiors could hear everything, and embarrassed that he knew Beta was coming up with mocking material as they stood there.

“I love you.” Zanark finally whispered as he held him in their embrace.

Gamma sighed into his skin before whispering back. “I guess I love you too.”

“Get a roooom~~!” Beta’s voice sung over the intercom speaker. 

“Beta, Alpha, get back to work.” Toudou’s voice could also be heard over the speaker. 

Gamma was so embarrassed that he pulled away from their embrace and tried to compose himself again. “Well, I’ll talk to my superiors and I’ll see what we can do about your rehearsals.” He told him professionally, getting back into his persona of nothing more than a Temporal Agent. “And until then, you’re free to go.” 

Zanark grinned and waited for Gamma to unlock the door and walk out, before he pecked his cheek quickly and chastely. “If you can’t make today’s rehearsal, I’ll call you after it.” He told him and then grinned at the main members of El Dorado. “See you around, Old Guys!”

With that Zanark gave one last smile at the men’s annoyed expressions and Gamma’s flustered expression and then left the room using a teleportation device to leave.

Gamma stared at the ground, fixated on the point he left, feeling so flustered and confused.

“I trust you won’t let your attraction to him get in the way of your job as a Temporal Agent of Protocol Omega?” Toudou cut into his thoughts finally.

Gamma snapped his head up to him and shook it quickly. “No, Master.” 

“Good.” Toudou waved towards the door nonchalantly. “Keep an eye on him and let us know if you see anything suspicious.”

“Yes, Master.” 

“Good you’re free to go, then.” 

Gamma nodded and started towards the door when he was stopped in his tracks by his name.

“Gamma?” Toudou spoke up again. “No more sneaking out, at night. Not even for Zanark. Is that understood?”

He had been waiting for that reprimanding, but Gamma nodded. “Smart.” He said quietly and nodded realizing that wasn’t an answer. “I mean--yes, Master.” 

“Well, you better not keep that boy waiting and you better hold up your end of the deal.” 

Toudou and Sakamaki had been working with Protocol Omega for a long time, and watched them grow up over the years. Both could tell that Gamma was excited for this task to be his job, even if he wouldn’t admit it.There was gleam in his eyes nodded obediently and left the room.

Gamma hoped his old dance shoes still fit as he excitedly thought about seeing his boyfriend rehearse again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the story~ Thank you to The Big Bang and my artists who worked with me! You guys are awesome!!! 
> 
> If you liked it please leave a comment, I love reading them!!!


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